My Little Brat
by Tiamo4ever
Summary: Levi is on his way home from the supermarket when he hears a small cry coming form the ally near his apartment complex. Curiosity propels him to investigate the situation, only to have him discover a baby with absolutely beautiful turquoise colored eyes named Eren. After he brings the baby home, He and his lover Erwin decide to raise baby Eren as their own son. *Also posted on AO3*
1. You Came Home From The Store With A Baby

**A/N: This story is also posted on AO3 under Tiamo4ever :)**

* * *

It was about 10:30 at night as Levi was walking home from Hange's apartment. She had needed help with some of her research and since Levi happened to own a book store, he also happened to have some of the latest science books Hange would need. Somehow she had persuaded him to bring them to her place and spend the entire evening going through them, and where did it get them; well in Levi's opinion after seven and a half hours of reading, note taking and one or two minor explosions they had made zero progress. Hange however made a big deal saying that they had managed to get one step closer to proving her hypothesis.

"You know what they say Levi 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. Every step in this journey to knowledge is important. It may not feel like it but we made progress today!" Hange exclaimed. Levi could still hear her over eager attitude in his head and he walked down the street to his apartment. He was lost in thought when he felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket.

 **Erwin: Since you're on your way home could you stop at the convenience store and pick up some ice cream? :)**

 **Levi: K**

 **Erwin: Thanks babe ;)**

"Who eats ice cream at when it's almost 11:00?" Levi thought to himself as he crossed the street and headed into the only 24 hour convenience store in their neighbourhood. In all honesty Levi didn't mind stopping since it was on the way home; the store was only about 6 buildings away from his anyway. Plus Levi was a bit of a night owl and enjoyed walking around at night. After purchasing a small container of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for Erwin he began his walk back to their apartment. Levi was nearly home when he heard a noise that made him stop in his tracks.

"What the hell?" Levi said as he glance toward the dark ally. He stayed silent for a moment when he heard the noise again. It sounded like crying, but not just any crying, it sounded like a baby. Levi let his curiosity get the best of him and he proceeded to walk down the ally to find the source of the noise. After a few steps into the ally, Levi noticed a brown whicker basket with an infant who couldn't be more than 6 or 8 months in it near a large dumpster. When the infant noticed Levi standing there, his cries got louder and his hands reached out hoping that Levi would pick him up. Levi's body moved without thinking as he kneeled down on the filthily ground next to the basket. Since it was late fall the weather had gotten rather cold at night and Levi noticed that the baby only had a long sleeve onesie and a thin baby blanket wrapped around it.

"You're probably cold huh brat?" Levi said as he took off the scarf he had been wearing. It was a thick green wool scarf that Erwin had given him for Christmas last year. He carefully placed the scarf around the infant in the basket, turning it into a second blanket. The baby's cry decreased until it was just a small series of whimpers and whines. Then it happened, the baby and Levi's eyes met and locked on each other. Levi was amazed, he had never seen eyes as beautiful as the ones this baby had; they were an absolutely breath taking turquoise color. The baby broke eye contact first and began to fuss again as it squirmed around, causing the blanket and scarf to slide. "Oi, keep still brat, you'll catch a cold if you keep kicking your blanket away." Levi said as he tucked the blanket and scarf back around the infant. He was just about done when he felt something on the right near the baby's side. He pulled back the blanked only to find an envelope containing a hand written note.

 _I don't know who will find this note, but I can only hope that you have a kind and compassionate soul. Even though I do not know who you are I am about to ask a favor of you. This is Eren (8months old) my beautiful baby boy. The favor I ask of you is to please care for him, give Eren the loving home and wonderful life he deserves. Please give him all of the things I am unable to. I want my Eren to know that this world is full of beauty and kindness, that despite my irresponsible and unfortunate decisions, there is hope. Please become Eren's hope, become Eren's strength, become Eren's family. Please don't let my selfishness rob this child of a happy life._

After finishing the note Levi looked back down at the slightly fussing infant. When their eyes met this time Levi experienced an intense attachment to Eren; he was going to protect him. Levi stood up off the ground and attempted to wipe some of the dirt off his pants. Then he grabbed the handle of the basket Eren was in as well as Erwin's ice cream and started to head towards the apartment when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

 **Erwin: Where Are You!? It's 11:45 You should have been home at least 20 minutes ago!**

 **Levi: Calm down eyebrows...be home in 5 minutes**

"Well brat, we better get going. Erwin's going to shit his pants when he sees you." Levi said as he walked the last little stretch before making it to their doorstep. Levi took out his keys and unlocked the outside door. The interesting thing about Levi and Erwin's apartment was that it was located just above the book store that Levi owns. To get to the apartment you have to enter through the stores side door and head up the stair case next to the electrical room. As Levi climbed the stairs Eren had finally stopped fussing and began incoherent baby talk. Levi barely had his apartment key in the lock when the door swung open. Erwin looked as though he was about to yell when he noticed the baby in the basket Levi was holding. While Erwin was trying to process what he was seeing Levi pushed past him and set Eren's basket on the kitchen table and began answering all of Erwin's potential questions.

"Haa...So basically I asked you to stop at the store and get me ice cream and you brought home a baby." Erwin sighed, he was clearly unamused. "Well I'll run back to the store and pick up enough diapers and formula for tonight. Tomorrow we will call children's aid and explain the situation, I'm sure they will find a good home for him." Levi stood up so fast that he knocked his chair back and he grabbed Erwin by the shirt collar.

"The brat isn't going anywhere. THIS will be his home ad WE will be his family. Eren is my little brat" Levi said in a serious even tone that he only used when he wasn't willing to back down.

"I suppose there isn't anything I can say to change your mind." Erwin said, Levi shook his head. "Well then I'll go get the diapers and formula for tonight and tomorrow we'll have to go baby shopping and get the others things we'll need to take care of him." Erwin said as he removed Levi's hand from his shirt and headed towards the door, grabbing his coat and wallet on the way; Levi let out a sigh of relief as he looked down at Eren who was happily sucking on his own fingers. He then reached out for Levi, while making happy giggle like sounds in the hopes that he would finally be held. Levi picked up on the baby's not so subtle hint and lifted him out of the basket and cradled him in his arms.

"Well brat I hope you're happy, because starting today this is your new home."


	2. Ocean Themed Nursery

Erwin returned from the store 20 minutes later with a small package of diapers, wipes, baby powder, baby formula, and a bottle. While Erwin took the formula to the kitchen to prepare a bottle for Eren, Levi took out the diapers so that he could change him. Now that Eren was in a nice dry diaper, Levi carried him into the living room and he sat down in the rocking chair, cradling the slightly fussy infant. Erwin handed Levi the bottle of formula, neither of the men were surprised when Eren's lips immediately latched on to the bottle and he began drinking so fast it was almost as if he was afraid Levi would take the bottle away from him.

"Oi slow down brat, you're going to get a stomach-ache." Levi said as he watch Eren finish off the entire bottle of formula. Levi burped Eren then proceeded to rock him trying to get him to go to sleep. As he watched Eren fight off sleep by trying desperately to keep his eyes open, he found himself totally amazed. Levi had always thought that he hated children. After all they were loud, messy, obnoxious, and needy; all of the things Levi couldn't stand. Yet here he was rocking a baby to sleep at 2 in the morning. Levi just couldn't figure out what it was about Eren, all he knew was that he had an overwhelming desire to protect him. It wasn't that he _wanted_ to protect Eren, he felt like he _needed_ to protect him. He and Eren had some sort of unexplained connection and Levi wasn't going to be separated from him and he wasn't going to let Erwin call children's aid. Levi was lost in his own thoughts when he felt Eren snuggle closer to his chest. Once Levi was sure Eren was sound asleep he carefully laid him down in the basket he found him in; true it wasn't the ideal place for him to sleep but it would have to do until they could get him a crib. Levi then gently lifted the basket up and carried it into his and Erwin's room, placing it on the dresser closest to his side of the bed. This way if Eren needed him he could get to him quickly.

"Good night brat." Levi whispered. He then changed into a pair of baggy grey sweat pants and white t-shirt, before climbing into bed and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Wahh wahhhh ah aaahh" Levi woke to the sound of Eren's crying. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes before looking at the clock, it was 5:45am. Levi sighed and climbed out of bed, deciding that it would be best if he took Eren out to the living room to avoid waking up Erwin. He was usually a pretty heavy sleeper, but if you happened to wake him up before 7:00am you would never hear the end of it. Levi grabbed the basket handle and headed for the living room, after setting the basket on the coffee table he picked up the crying infant and held him close to his chest, patting his back trying to calm him down. Eren slowly stopped crying but was still fussy none the less. Levi continued to pat Eren's back when he felt his shoulder becoming wet. He glanced down and noticed the Eren's was sucking, not to mention drooling, on his shirt. He rolled his eye and sighed as he repositioned Eren so that now he was cradling him, causing Eren to start crying again.

Levi walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil to make himself a cup of tea and then he mixed up a bottle of formula for Eren. Eren started sucking on his fingers while he waited for his bottle, every now and then making fussy sounds. Levi then somehow managed to carry Eren, his cup of tea, and the baby bottle back to the living room. The two of them sat down in the big comfy arm chair near the window. Levi set his tea on the windowsill then proceeded to feed Eren. Yet again Eren immediately began drinking his bottle while Levi absentmindedly stared out the window watching the sunrise. Eren only finished half of his bottle before he started to squirm in Levi's arms.

"Do you want to see the sun come up?" Levi asked. Eren babbled a few baby sounds which Levi assumed meant yes, so he set the bottle down and sat Eren up so that he could see out the window. Eren giggled and began to squirm, it was the first time Levi had seen Eren smiling and genuinely happy since he brought him home last night. "Bah bah gaa wahh." Eren babbled as he turned his head to look at Levi. Then he started to giggle and reached up and hit both of Levi's cheeks with his hands. Levi picked Eren up and held him up in the air so that he was looking down at him causing Eren to laugh even more. Levi couldn't help but smirk at how something so simple could make a baby smile so brightly.

"Well mark this day on the calendar, Levi Ackerman is smiling." Erwin said sarcastically as he stood there looking at his lover.

"How long have you been standing there eyebrows?"

"Long enough." He said. "Levi are you really serious about keeping this boy." Erwin asked. It's not that Erwin was apposed to the idea of children, in fact out of the two of them Erwin was far more likely to suggest that they adopt children. The only reason he hadn't in the past was because he knew that Levi would say no before he even finished the question. The fact that Levi was now immediately attached to this baby he found in an ally near a dumpster less then 24 hours ago was baffling. Erwin just wanted to make sure that Levi really knew what it would mean if they chose to keep and raise this boy.

"First of all his name is Eren not 'this boy'. Second of all I think we already covered this last night; Eren is _NOT_ going anywhere." Levi was serious about this and Erwin could tell that Levi was 100% committed to deal with anything and everything that came with raising this child. Levi lowered Eren so that he was now sitting on his lap facing Erwin.

"Understood. Eren welcome to the family." Erwin said as he patted Eren's head, making him giggle. "Well since we are going to raise him, we're going to have to go get a few things. However since we don't have a car seat or a stroller we can't exactly bring him with us."

"I'll stay here with him. I'll go put a sign up in the store window letting everyone know the store will be closed for the next few days until we get things with Eren settled." Levi knew he couldn't exactly run the store and take care of Eren at the same time. He would need a few days to figure out how to handle both. Erwin had his own job so he wouldn't be around to help during store hours; they were just lucky that he happened to be on vacation this week. "As for getting what we need I'll call Hange. She can help you pick everything out, plus she drives that ridiculously big truck so getting everything home wont be an issue. After helping her all day yesterday with her experiments and research that four-eyed freak owes me."

* * *

After explaining their situation to Hange she practically deafened Levi squealing in excitement and said she would cancel her research plans for the day so she could help them out. "I just have to make a few super duper quick phone calls and then I'll be right over." Hange squealed before hanging up the phone. Erwin showered first so he could be ready to go when she showed up, while Levi changed Eren. Once Erwin was done he took over watching Eren so that Levi could have a quick shower. Levi finished his shower and was dressed for the day just in time for there to be a loud knock at their door.

"Leeeeevi! I'm here. Let me in!" Hange yelled as she banged on the door. Erwin opened it in a hurry afraid that she might actually brake the door down to get into their apartment. "Where is he? Where is the baby boy that managed to wrap Levi around his little finger?"

"Could you at least try to use your indoor voice? Because if you can't, I'll have to duct tape your shitty mouth shut" Levi said as he rolled his eyes.

"Only if I can meet your new little munchkin" Hange said. Levi sighed and went into the living room and picked Eren up out of the basket, then carried him over to where Hange was standing. Hange grinned and walked up to get a better look at the baby boy in Levi's arms. She smiled then patted Eren on the head; Eren wasn't quite sure what to think about Hange and started to fuss a little as Hange looked at him.

"Oh sweet pea, there is no need to be fussy." Hange said as she tickled Eren's tummy. Eren started to giggle and babble at her, then without warning he grabbed Hange's glasses right off her face. "Hahaha, well I can see that someone is going to be quite the trouble maker huh." Hange said taking her glasses out of Eren's hands. Hange spent another few minutes fawning over Eren before She and Erwin decided that the had better head out and get all of the things Eren would need.

When Erwin and Hange got to the mall they began shopping for all of the necessary things Eren would need. They got a crib, a stroller, a car seat, a highchair, a playpen, baby monitor, diapers, wipes, baby powder, baby formula, baby food, bottles, and pacifiers. When they headed for the toy section Hange had an idea.

"Wait! I don't think we should go over board on buying things for Eren today." Hange said with a devilish grin on her face.

"And why is that?" Erwin asked. He was a bit apprehensive to hear her answer.

"Because I have a wonderful idea! How about we surprise Levi and this weekend we'll have a surprise baby shower. Wouldn't that be great, we'll invite everyone over and have a party and of course once they hear about Eren they'll spoil him rotten with presents; and...ohhh it will just be perfect." Hange was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Hange." Erin actually did think it was a good idea. He was a little worried that Levi might be thinking that Erwin wasn't supportive of the decision he had made to keep Eren. Co-hosting this baby shower with Hange just might help Levi see that Erwin was also committed to raise Eren. So with that settled Erwin and Hange quickly finished their shopping and headed back to the apartment.

* * *

When they got back the found that Eren was asleep in his basket and Levi had cleared out the spare room so that the three of them could get to work turning it into Eren's nursery. They then spent the rest of the night getting the nursery set up, although Levi was really just dictating what he wanted Hange and Erwin to do while he took care of Eren. The nursery turned out pretty cute for one nights work. They had gone with and ocean theme, so Hange painted some fish and other sea animals on the walls. Erwin brought the rocking chair from the living room into the nursery that way if Eren woke up fussy during the night he could be rocked back to sleep. They had set the crib up by the window since Eren was so fascinated by seeing out the living room window this morning. It had gotten pretty late and Eren was already asleep so Levi gently pick him up out of the basket and set him in his crib. Hange said her goodbyes and then went on her way home, Erwin and Levi thanked her for all her help. Levi was exhausted, it was a long day taking care of Eren and he was more than ready for bed. Erwin wrapped his arms around Levi's waist.

"How about I give you a nice massage." Erwin whispered into his tired lovers ear.

"Sounds nice" Levi said as he headed for the bedroom. Erwin was just about to follow him when he heard his cell phone ding. He decided to check it quickly.

 **Hange: Don't Forget about the baby shower. We have to make it extra extra special for those boys of yours ;)**

 **Erwin: I didn't forget. I'll text you tomorrow and we'll start planning.**

 **Hange: Excellent!**


	3. Baby Shower Part 1

It was Saturday, the day Hange and Erwin decided to have the surprise baby shower for Levi and Eren. The two of them had been secretly planning all week so that everything would be perfect. They decided that Erwin would come up with a way to get Levi out of the apartment for a few hours so that Hange and the other's could get everything set up. Once they were finished Hange would text Erwin so knew when to bring Levi and Eren home. Erwin decided that the best way to get Levi out of their apartment was to keep the idea simple. He knew that Levi was smart and that he could usually tell when someone was trying to deceive him. Erwin had to suggest something that was innocent enough to not make Levi suspicious, but also something that could be time consuming enough to stall them until he got Hange's text.

Erwin finished his taking a shower then headed towards the kitchen, the smell of scrambled eggs and hot coffee filled his nose as he entered the room. He noticed Eren sitting in his high chair, sucking on his pacifier and playing with the stuffed octopus Levi had bought for him; while Levi was fixing two plates with eggs and toast.

"Good morning." Erwin said as he walked up behind Levi, wrapping his arms around his waist. "How long have you been up?" Ha asked.

"Eren got me up at 5:30." Levi groaned as he poured himself and Erwin some coffee. Erwin took the plates over to the table while Levi took the coffee mugs. As soon as they sat down Eren dropped his stuffed octopus and started to cry. Erwin picked it up and handed it back to Eren, but it didn't stop the crying; Eren reached his arms out toward Levi, desperately wanting to be held. Levi sighed and picked Eren up out of the high chair and set him on his lap, holding him with one arm while he used the other arm to eat. As soon as Eren was on Levi's lap he stopped crying. "He's been like this all morning, I haven't been able to set him down for more then 10 minutes. Clingy brat." Erwin couldn't help but chuckle, Levi just rolled his eye as continued to eat his eggs.

"The weather is supposed to be nice today." Erwin said. Levi just nodded his head as he picked up Eren's pacifier and put it back into Eren's mouth. "It would be a shame to spend such a nice day inside, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Levi said, taking a sip of his coffee. Normally he drank tea, but since Eren had him up so early he figured he could use the caffeine boost.

"Why don't we take Eren to the park down the block. We could pack a picnic lunch, get some fresh air, take a walk get a little exercise." Just a block or so from their apartment complex there was one of the largest and nicest parks in the city. There was a playground for children, plenty of benches and picnic tables, and even a decent sized pond where you could feed the ducks. It was the perfect place to spend a nice sunny fall day, especially since he leaves on the trees were changing color. "After all you've only been out of the apartment once since you found Eren, and we haven't had a chance to test out that new stroller we got."

"Not today, Eren is to fussy." Levi said as he looked down at Eren who was now reaching for his toy octopus that was on the tray of his high chair.

"I think the fresh air would do him some good, and maybe the motion of the stroller will put him to sleep. I've heard that a lot of infants fall asleep when being pushed in a stroller." Erwin said hoping that he wasn't being to obvious, the last thing he wanted was to make Levi suspicious. Out of all the ideas Erwin had come up with to get them out of the apartment, this was the one that seemed to be the best option.

"Alright fine. You clean up the kitchen and start packing us some lunch. I'll go get me and the brat cleaned up." Levi said as he stood up from the table, carrying Eren back to his room. Erwin let out a sigh of relief, then grabbed his phone so he could let Hange know what was going on.

 **Erwin: The 3 of us are going to have a picnic in the park. We'll being leaving in about a hour. I'll text you once we are out of the building. The spare key will be in the usual place.**

 **Hange: Fantastic! I'll call the others and get them together ASAP :) Operation Baby Shower is going to be a success! :)**

* * *

Erwin finished packing them a lunch to take to the park just as Levi came out of Eren's room with the diaper bag slung over his left shoulder and a sleepy looking Eren on his right side. Eren was sucking on his pacifier and rubbing his eyes before finally resting his head on Levi's shoulder. They were now ready to go so they headed down the stairs, Erwin locking the door behind them while Levi went to get the stroller from the storage room. Levi placed Eren in the stroller and buckled him in, then he put the diaper bag and picnic lunch in the basket underneath. Eren started to get fussy now that Levi wasn't holding him anymore, so Levi gave Eren his stuffed octopus which seemed to help him calm down a little bit as Eren started sucking on one of the toy octopus's tentacles. The three of them started the walk to the park; Levi pushing the stroller and Erwin walking next to him.

They were about half way to the park when Eren yawned as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Eren had been up twice during the night and refused to go back to sleep after he woke up at 5:30, so Levi was glad to see him getting some rest. While Levi was looking at the sleeping baby Erwin took the opportunity to send Hange a text saying that they were on their way to the park so she and the others could go and get things ready for the baby shower. When they arrived at the park and decided that they would walk around for awhile since the movement of the stroller seemed to be helping Eren sleep.

About 20 minutes later they decided to take a break for lunch, Erwin chose to sit at the table with the nice view of the duck pond. Levi grabbed their lunch from the stroller and placed in on the picnic table so they could eat. It was a simple lunch, just some sandwiched, fruit and ice tea; Erwin knew that Hange would have enough food to feed an entire scout regiment at the baby shower so he decided they should go light on lunch. They had just started eating when Levi heard Eren start to whine.

"Did you have a nice nap brat?" Levi asked as he picked Eren up out of the stroller and placed him on his lap just like he had during breakfast. After he took another bite of his sandwich Levi grabbed Eren's bottle out of the diaper bag and began to feed him. Erwin couldn't help but smile as he watched Levi with Eren. It didn't mind how many times Erwin watched the two of them together he was always amazed. He never thought he would see the day when Levi Ackerman, the man who didn't give two shits about anything, would be so "motherly" towards a child.

"You're very good with him Levi." Erwin said. "I think you made the right choice in keeping him. You seem to need him just as much as he needs you."

"Tch. If you keep saying mushy crap like that I'm going to throw up that shitty sandwich you made." Levi said as he looked down. Erwin knew he didn't mean it, Levi had a habit of lashing out when he felt embarrassed. "I'm going to take the brat over to see the ducks." He said as he got up from the picnic table and headed towards the pond.

There were several ducks in the pond today, a few big ones ad even some ducklings. Eren giggled as he watched the ducks swim around in circles. The nap he took seemed to improve his mood, Eren was much happier than he was earlier this morning. Eren continued to babble and giggle as he watched the ducks swim, they were probably hoping to be fed. The park had a few machines set up where if you paid 25cents you would get a hand full of bread crumbs so that you could feed he ducks. Levi pulled a quarter out of his pocket and bought some, he then threw the entire hand full into the water. The ducks swam quickly and began eating the stale bread. Eren laughed as he watched the ducks fight over the food. When Levi saw how happy Eren was he bought some more and repeated the action of feeding the duck.

Eren giggled again and began clapping his hands together. Just then some of the ducks flew out of the pond right over Levi and Eren. Eren laughed again and began flapping his arms up and down imitating the flying ducks. Levi smirked at the laughing baby and then lifted him up in the air and spun in circles while Eren kept flapping his arms and laughing. The laughter became contagious as Levi soon found himself chuckling along with Eren. They would have continued to do this, except it was a this moment when Levi remembered that they were in the park and now people were starting to stare. Levi also realized that Erwin had is phone out ant had probably taken pictures and maybe even video taped the whole thing. Levi started carrying Eren back over to the picnic table, not once making eye contact with Erwin.

"Why did you stop. It looked like you were enjoying yourself." Erwin said with a cocky smile.

"Shut up, and if you took pictures you better delete them or I'll drown you in the duck pond." Levi said as he put Eren back in the stroller. Levi then began cleaning up their lunch mess. "Watch Eren. I'm going to throw this stuff away." He said as he walked away to find a trash can. Erwin laughed again and then slid over so that he was closer to the stroller. As he looked at Eren who went back to sucking on his toy octopus again, Erwin started to realize why Levi was so attached to this boy. There was just something about him that made your heart melt and want to hold him tight and never let him go.

"You are a lucky little boy Eren. I can tell that Levi really loves you." Eren just babbled at Erwin and went back to playing with his toy. Erwin was lost in thought when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

 **Hange: It's Party Time! Hurry up and come home! We can't have baby shower without the baby and his daddies ;)**


	4. Baby Shower Part 2

**Hange: It's Party Time! Hurry up and come home! We can't have baby shower without the baby and his daddies ;)**

* * *

Erwin had to come up with an excuses for them to go back to the apartment even though they had only been at the park for a little over an hour. The wind had started to pick up and it was getting a little chilly; as Erwin zipped up his jacket he got an idea. Levi had returned to the picnic table and stood next to the stroller, watching Eren play with his toy for a minute before sitting down next to Erwin.

"The wind has gotten a little chilly. We should head back soon. I'd hate to see Eren catch a cold." Erwin said hoping that bringing Eren's well being into question, might cause Levi to agree with him. Luck seemed to be on Erwin's side today because as soon as Erwin finished his sentence, Eren sneezed twice. This helped make Erwin's point more believable. Levi agreed that they should head back as he stood up and buckled Eren back into the stroller, covering him up with the blanket he had put in the diaper bag just in case. Levi was nothing if not prepared. The three of them headed back to the apartment complex, this time Erwin pushed the stroller so that he could give Levi a break.

About 15 minutes later they arrived home safe and sound. Eren was starting to squirm and fuss a little, he was clearly ready to get out of the stroller and be held again. Erwin told Levi he was going to head upstairs and make them both some tea to help them warm up, while Levi got Eren out of the stroller and put it back in the storage room. Levi just nodded his head as he unbuckled Eren. Erwin sent Hange a quick text to let her know it was just him coming in and not to yell surprise yet. After he got into the apartment he stood next to the others just waiting for Levi and Eren to come through the door. Meanwhile Levi had gotten Eren out of the stroller and was holding him he headed up the stairs. Eren sneezed again and Levi made a comment about how he would give Eren a nice warm bath. Levi turned the door handle and as he pushed the door open...

"SUPREISE!" Everyone said at the same time. Levi's eyes widened in shock for a second before he returned to his usual emotionless expression.

"What the hell are you doing?" Levi asked as he glared at everyone. Ordinarily this would have been intimidating but since he was holding a baby, the intimidation factor was almost non existent.

"It's a baby shower silly." Hange said as she pointed to the 'It's a boy' banner hanging over her head. Levi looked around his apartment only to find that everything was blue. Blue balloons, blue streamers, blue frosting on the cupcakes, blue wrapping paper on the pile of gifts in the corner. Not to mention more food than all of them could possibly eat. All of them being Hange, Petra, Oluo, Eld, Gunther, Farlen, Erwin and of course himself and Eren.

"Aren't baby showers for pregnant _women_?" Levi sighed as he closed the door behind him.

"Well, I guess in the traditional sense a baby shower would be for a pregnant woman. However the purpose behind a baby shower is to congratulate the new parents as well as celebrate the new addition to their family." Hange explained. "And since Eren is the newest member of yours and Erwin's family, a baby shower is appropriate. Don't you think?"

Levi just rolled his eyes, it didn't really matter if he thought this was dumb or not because he knew his friends were stubborn enough not to leave until Levi had properly participated. So he did the only thing he could do, he gave in and let the party happen. Everyone fixed themselves a plate of food and began talking and enjoying themselves. Eren clung to Levi, the baby wasn't used to so many people being around, he shyly hid his face in Levi's chest. Hange offered to take Eren for a little while so Levi could get some food and catch up with Eld and Gunther since they hadn't seen each other in over a year.

Eren seemed to remember Hange and went to her more willingly than Levi expected him too. Levi hated to admit it but he was pretty overprotective. He let Hange take Eren but he made sure to keep an eye on them from where he was sitting. Hange bounced Eren up and down on her lap as she talked to Petra who was just as mesmerized by how adorable Eren was. Eren laughed partly because of Hange bouncing him and partly because Petra was tickling him and making silly faces. Eren then reached out for Petra, wanting to be held by her now. Petra gladly took him and started to rock him in her arms. Oluo walked over and started talking to Petra then directed his attention towards Eren.

"Hey squirt, You've got good taste in women." Oluo started to say "Petra is amaz-" But before he could finish he bit his tongue hard enough for blood to squirt out. The sudden action scared Eren and caused him to cry.

"Nice job stupid, you made him cry." Petra said hitting the back of Oluo's head. She tried her best to comfort the crying baby but it was no use, the one Eren wanted was Levi. Levi took Eren from Petra and began to comfort him by patting his back and rocking him slightly. Almost immediately Eren went from crying loudly to soft whimpers as he snuggled closer to Levi. The others were amazed at how fast Levi was able to calm him down, it was certainly not something they expected to see from the frighteningly intimidating Levi Ackerman.

"Why don't we open the presents now." Hange suggested. She told Erwin and Levi to sit on the couch together and begin opening the presents. Erwin agreed to open them while Levi held Eren; prenteding not to be interested even though he was. Oluo had gotten Eren a toy box shaped like a treasure chest to match the ocean themed nursery. Eld and Gunther had filled the toy box all the way to the top with as many toys as they could. Farlen being a book lover and Levi's only employee at the book store that he owned, had gotten Eren several bestselling children's books. Hange and Petra had gone on a shopping spree and bought Eren an entire wardrobe of cloths. They even took the liberty of buying cloths in several sizes so that Eren could grow into them. Levi and Erwin thanked everyone for how unnecessarily generous they were. The party continued as everyone ate and talked; Hange and Petra stole Eren away from Levi again. However it wasn't long before Eren waned to go back to Levi, he started to fuss and reach out for him.

"Someone is certainly a daddy's boy." Petra said with a wink as she handed Eren back to Levi.

"Tch. How can he be a daddy's boy if he doesn't have a dad." Levi said as he looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. He would never admit it out loud but did feel kind of insecure about not technically being Eren's father.

"Levi. You may not be Eren's biological father, but you have been more of a dad to him than most biological fathers are to their actual children." Petra said as she rested her hand on Levi's shoulder. "You are Eren's daddy and Eren is your son."

Eren yawned and started to rub his eyes, it was clear that he was ready for another nap. Levi excused them from the party and headed to Eren's room. The two of them sat in the rocking chair together, Levi rocked back and forth as Eren yawned and started to drift off to sleep. As he watch Eren fall asleep, Levi decided that Petra was right, he cared about Eren and was going to do his best to raise him. Eren was his little brat after all. When Levi was sure Eren was asleep he tucked him into his crib, putting his stuffed octopus next to him. Levi watched him sleep for a few more minutes, then bent over and kissed Eren's forehead. He closed the door behind him as he left Eren's room and headed back to the others.

The rest of them all talked for a while longer before they had to go their separate ways. Levi made everyone take some of the food with them because there was no way in hell he and Erwin would be able to finish all of the leftovers. Hange was the only one to stay behind, mostly because she wanted to help clean up. Once they were finished Hange left saying how they should get together again soon, Erwin agreed while Levi made some snide comment about how they already see to much of her. Hange stuck her tongue out at Levi before she left.

With Eren asleep and everyone else gone, Erwin and Levi finally had some time to themselves. They decided to watch a movie and cuddle on the couch. However they quickly lost interest in the movie, and became very interested in each others lips. Levi was to tired to try and fight back for dominance the way he usually did, as Erwin's tongue slid into his mouth. Since he usually gave in anyway he just let Erwin do what he wanted as he pushed Levi back on to the couch, deepening the kiss even more. This lasted for a while until they were both panting and breathing heavily. They decided to head to the bedroom to continue; after bringing Eren home the two of them hadn't had anytime to be intimate. Erwin laid Levi down on the bed, climbing on top of him and began kissing Levi's neck. Levi let out a few quite moans as Erwin continued to suck and bite at the soft spot on his neck. Erwin was about to remove Levi's shirt, but as fate would have it Eren had woken up from his nap and began to cry. Both men sighed and Levi got up to check on Eren, who needed a diaper change. Now that the mood had been killed they decided that they would play with Eren until it was they put him bed.

They got out a few of the new toys Eren had gotten from Eld and Gunther, and played with Eren for about an hour and a half. Levi then took Eren to the bathroom to give him a bath and get him ready for bed. After he was all squeaky clean Levi gave Eren a bottle then headed to the nursery to rock him back to sleep. Eren wasn't quite ready for sleep yet though, so Levi had Erwin grab one of the books Farlen had given Eren and began to read to the stubborn baby. Levi continued to rock and read to Eren, when he was about half way through the story Eren had fallen asleep. Levi gently placed Eren into the crib before heading back to his room. Erwin was already in bed waiting for Levi, both of them silently agreeing that their earlier activities would have to wait for another day.


	5. 10 Months Later

It had been nearly a year since Levi had found Eren in the ally way on that fate full fall night. Their little family was doing very well and had settled into a comfortable routine. Erwin went to work during the day while Levi managed the book store and took care of Eren. The book store was open Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm every week. Levi had set up Eren's play pen by the front desk that way he could keep an eye on him while he and Farlen handled the shop. In the past Levi and Farlen would both work the entire day together, but now that Levi had Eren to take care of, he would work from 9:00 until 12:00. Then Levi would take Eren upstairs to the apartment for his afternoon nap. The perks of the bookstore being just below his apartment were that if Farlen needed Levi's assistance, he was just a stair case away. It also allowed Levi to take care of Eren without having to hire a babysitter. After Eren's nap was over the two of them would head back down to the store for the rest of the day.

Erwin usually arrived home around 5:30. He and Levi would make dinner while Eren played with his toys, then the three of them would sit down and have dinner together. Erwin and Levi took turns feeding and bathing Eren, Levi doing it one night and Erwin doing it the next and so on. They also took turns being to one to put Eren to bed, this sometimes being the most challenging task of the day. As Eren got older it became harder and harder to get the little guy to go to sleep. Once Eren was finally asleep, Erwin and Levi would have what they called "grown up time" where they would spend time together. Whether it was watching a movie, or just talking to each other while having a glass of whine. If they were really lucky Eren would be sound asleep enough for them to have sex.

On Fridays when the store was closed Levi usually took Eren over to see Hange. Eren really seemed to like Hange and Levi just couldn't stand the idea of being cooped up in the house all day. After a few hours with Hange they would head home and Levi would clean the apartment from top to bottom. The weekends, however, were probably the highlight of the week for this little family of three. Erwin and Levi would spend the weekends playing with Eren.

Eren was now a year and a half old. Since Levi and Erwin weren't sure when Eren's actual birthday was they made and educated guess. The note that was in Eren's basket had only told them that he was 8 months old, so his birthday had to be four months later. They picked the day that seemed to make the most sense, they knew this wasn't the best solution but it was better than nothing. Eren was spoiled rotten yet again by all of Levi and Erwin's friends at his birthday party. Eren had learned how to walk and impressed everyone at the party when he walked all they way from the living room couch over to the kitchen where Erwin and Levi were getting the cake ready. However he was a baby so he wasn't exactly graceful, he did fall down a few times; and every time he did he pouted causing the others to say "awww".

Eren had also learned how to talk. His first word was "daddy" which didn't surprise anyone. They all knew that when Eren said daddy he meant Levi. His second word was a bit more surprising though; Eren's second word was "papa". He had said it one night when Erwin was feeding him his dinner. Levi and Erwin both looked at each other, then back at Eren who pointed to Levi and said daddy, then pointed at Erwin and said papa. Erwin so touched by the little boy calling him papa that he picked Eren up out of the high chair and hugged him tightly. Daddy and papa weren't the only words Eren knew, he had learned many other words and had turned into quite the little chatter box. These last ten months with their new baby boy had been more fulfilling then either Erwin or Levi could've imagined. It only made them look forward to the rest of their life that they would be spending with Eren.

* * *

The alarm clock went off at 7:00 am like it did everyday during the week. Erwin got up and headed for the shower since he had to go to work today, while Levi headed to Eren's room. Eren got had a big smile on his face as Levi came in and lifted him out of the crib and carried him to the kitchen for breakfast.

"What do you want for breakfast brat?" Levi said as he put Eren in his high chair.

"Omeal, omeal" Eren said as he played with his stuffed octopus. Levi wasn't to surprised that Eren wanted oatmeal since it seemed to be his favorite breakfast food. However Eren wouldn't eat it when is was warm, he always made a fuss saying that it was too hot; so Levi would have to let the oatmeal cool down to room temperature. While Eren's oatmeal was cooling off Levi began making omelets for Erwin and himself. By the time Erwin was showered and dressed for work the omelets were ready and so was Eren's oatmeal. Levi put a bid around Eren's neck then began to spoon feed him his oatmeal while also eating his omelet. Levi preferred that he and Erwin feed Eren because it made less of a mess that way. After about 5 bites of oatmeal Eren decided he didn't want anymore.

"No omeal." Eren said as he shook his head. Eren looked at Levi and Erwin's plates for a minute then back at his oatmeal. "Papa" Eren said

"Yes Eren?" Erwin said as he patted Eren's head.

"Want bite." Eren said as he pointed at Erwin's omelet. Erwin cut up a few small pieces and fed them to Eren. After the three of them finished breakfast Levi took the dishes to the kitchen and started cleaning up, while Erwin grabbed his briefcase. Erwin said goodbye to Levi and Eren then headed off to work. Since it was Friday the bookstore was closed today, Levi had planned on the two of them going to see Hange today. Levi would help Hange with her research, then they would have lunch together and Hange would play with Eren for a while. It had become their Friday routine.

"Eren, do you want to go see Hange today?" Levi asked as he got Eren out of his high chair.

"Hange Hange!" Eren shouted. Eren really liked Hange, probably because of her over the top silly behaviour. Levi got Eren dressed for the day then packed his diaper bag with everything he might need while they were at Hange's place. Normally they would walk over to Hange's since it wasn't too far, but today it was supposed to rain in the afternoon and Levi didn't want to be pushing the stroller in the rain; so he decided that they would take the car. Levi buckled Eren into his car seat and then they were on their way.

* * *

Hange answered the door and as soon as she opened it she snatched Eren out of Levi's arms. Even though Eren knew how to walk he still insisted on being carried most of the time.

"Eren! Sweet pea I missed you so much." Hange shouted as she spun Eren is circles around the room.

"Idiot, you just saw him last week." Levi said as he closed the door and set Eren's stuff on the living room chair. Hange stuck her tongue out at Levi then started smothering Eren with kisses, causing him to giggle. Hange set Eren down on the living room floor and got out the box of toys Eren usually played with. Once Eren started to play with his toys Hange and Levi began working on her research, they sat on the living room couch so they could also keep an eye one Eren. Hange's living room had sliding glass doors that lead to the patio, Eren happened to be playing in front of them when something outside caught his eye.

"Daddy daddy." Eren shouted.

"What?" Levi asked looking up from his book.

"Kitty." Eren said as he pointed out the window at a small cat. Most of its fur was light grey, but its stomach was white and it had a few patched of black fur on its face and tail. Eren was so interested in the kitty he dropped his toy and got closer to the window."Oh, that's the neighbours cat. He comes over here sometimes because I feed him occasionally." Hange said. Levi made some snide comment about how she shouldn't feed every animal that wonders on to her patio. Hange just laughed then they both went back to reading. A few minutes later Eren walked up to Levi and started crying.

"What wrong?" Levi asked as he picked Eren up and sat him on his lap. Eren tried to talk but was crying to much for Levi to understand him. "Eren, you need to calm down or I can't understand you." Eren's calmed down a little bit.

"Kitty...sniffle...kitty gone." Eren said as tears rolled down his cheeks and he continued to sniffle. Levi looked towards the patio doors and sure enough the cat wasn't there anymore.

"The cat had to go back to his house" Levi explained.

"Why?" Eren asked as he pouted. Levi thought for minute tying to come up with a reason why the cat would go.

"Because the kitty's family was probably worried about him." Hange said saving Levi from having to come up with a reason.

"Kitty come back?" Eren asked. His tears had stopped but he was still pouting.

"I'm sure the kitty will come back soon." Hange said as she kissed Eren's forehead. "Now how about we have some lunch?"

The three of them had some lunch, then Hange put a movie on for Eren to watch while she and Levi got some more work done. After Eren's movie was over Levi checked his watch and decided that they two of them should head home. They said good bye to Hange then headed for the car, the weather report had been right today. As soon as Eren was buckled into his car seat it started to rain. Due to the rain there was a little more traffic then Levi thought there would be; what should have been a five minute drive turned into an almost fifteen minute drive. Levi thought is was awfully quite in the car, usually Eren talked non stop on the way home from Hange's. He glanced in the back seat only to see that Eren had fallen asleep. This was a bit odd because Eren had already had a nap today. You were lucky to get Eren to take one nap during the day, it would be almost impossible to get him to take another one. Yet there he was sound asleep in his car seat.

* * *

When they finally got home Levi got Eren out of his car seat and carried him upstairs. Eren was still sound asleep so Levi laid Eren down in his crib. Levi started to clean the apartment, it was a bit easier to clean today since Eren was asleep and wasn't constantly under his feet like he usually was.

"Daddy!"Eren shouted. Levi put away his cleaning supplies and went into Eren's room.

"So sleepy head, finally decided to wake up huh." Levi said as he walked towards Eren's crib.

"Wet." Eren said as his legs squirmed. Levi lifted Eren out of the crib and brought him over to the changing table. He change Eren out of his wet diaper then put a dry one on him. After he finished changing Eren to carried him to the living room and put him into his play pen. There was something a bit off about Eren's behaviour today, normally he was much more active and talkative. While Levi was considering why Eren might not be himself, Erwin walked through the door.

"You're home early." Levi said.

"Yes. My afternoon meeting was cancelled so I decided to come home." Erwin said as he set his briefcase on the table. After Erwin changed out of his work cloths they started to make dinner. Once it was ready Erwin got Eren out of his play pen and brought him to the table. Eren was unusually fussy tonight as he squirmed and whined in his highchair . Levi fixed Eren a plate and tried to feed Eren a spoon fully of mashed potatoes.

"No." Eren whined. Levi tried again but Eren just whined more and still refused. Since Eren didn't want the mashed potatoes Levi tried giving Eren a spoon full of peas instead. "No!" Eren cried as he hit the spoon out of Levi's hand causing the peas to go even pushed his entire plate onto the floor. "No No No NO!" Eren continued to say, he was now crying and in temper tantrum mode.

"Alright that's enough." Levi said as he stood up from the table. "If you don't want to eat then lets get you ready for bed." Levy picked Eren up out o the high chair and headed to the nursery while Erwin cleaned up the mess Eren had made. Eren continued to cry the entire time Levi changed him into him pajamas. After he changed Eren's cloths he sat in the rocking chair with Eren and started trying to rock him to sleep. Eren started to calm down a little, so Levi gave Eren his pacifier. "You're awfully cranky today brat, I wish I knew why." A few minutes later Eren was asleep, Levi tucked him in and went back to the table to finish dinner with Erwin.

"What was that all about? Eren doesn't usually act like that." Erwin said when Levi sat back down.

"I have no idea. He hasn't been himself all day. I'm a little worried." Levi said as he took a bite of his food. The two of them finished eating then sat in the living room together for a while. Erwin gave Levi a shoulder massage while they watch a re-run of an old TV show. They decided that they would go to be early tonight it had been a long week and they both need some rest. A few hours later they were woken up by Eren crying. Erwin said that he would go check on him since Levi had been taking care of Eren all day. Erwin flipped on the light in Eren's room and walked over to the crib.

"Papa." Eren cried as he reached out for Erwin.

"What's wrong little man?" Erwin said as he picked up the crying boy. Ere snuggled closer to Erwin's chest still crying, that's when Erwin noticed how warm Eren was. He sat Eren on the changing table and placed his hand against Eren's forehead. Eren was burning up, this had to be why he was so out of character today. "Levi." Erwin called out loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" Levi called back.

"Eren has a fever."


	6. Eren Has a Fever

"Eren has a fever."

* * *

When Levi walked through the door o the nursery he saw Eren being cradled in Erwin's arms, crying and coughing as Erwin rocked him back and forth. Levi walked over and gently placed his hand on Eren's forehead, feeling just how warm the crying 18 month old was.

"I'll go get the thermometer out of the medicine cabinet. Why don't you take Eren to the kitchen and see if you can get him to drink some juice. If his fever is high the last thing want for him to get dehydrated." Levi said as he headed towards the bathroom. Erwin headed to the kitchen, while trying to console Eren who as still crying. Erwin grabbed the apple juice out of the fridge and poured some into a Sippy cup. He brought the Sippy cup up to Eren's lips trying to encourage him to drink. Eren fussed and tried to push the cup away, similarly to how he pushed away his food a dinner earlier.

"Eren, please take just a little sip. It will help make you feel better." He said as he brought the cup back to Eren's lips. Eren coughed a few times, then decided to drink a little of the juice. He took a few sips then pushed the cup away again. At this point Levi entered the kitchen with the thermometer.

"Daddy" Eren whined as he reached out for Levi. Levi told Eren to sit still while he took his temperature. "Daddy...I too hot." Eren whined as he rubbed his eyes and forehead, then started crying again.

"Yes I bet you are." Levi said as he looked at Eren's temperature. "His fever is 102."

Levi carried Eren back to the nursery. Since Eren had a high fever he had been sweating quit a bit so Levi decided to change Eren into some dry pajamas. Erwin had gone to the bathroom and ran a cloth under cold water for Eren's head to help Eren cool down a little. He entered the nursery, just as Levi had finished changing Eren's pajamas. They both tried to get Eren to drink some more of his juice, and after a little convincing Eren had drank about half the cup. After Levi laid Eren down in his crib and tucked him in, Erwin placed the cool cloth on Eren's forehead. They both waited for Eren to fall back to sleep and a few minutes later he did. Erwin headed back to his and Levi's room, while Levi decided to stay and sleep in the rocking chair; just in case Eren had a problem. This was the first time he had a fever so Levi was feeling a little uneasy.

* * *

Eren was up three times during the night. The first time was because of a cough, it started off with a few small coughs but then it turned into a full on coughing fit. The poor boy was even having trouble breathing; but soon Levi was able to help Eren get through it and back to sleep. The second and third time were fairly close together. Eren's fever had gone up so he woke up crying and complained about being too hot, Levi had Eren drink a bit more juice then got him another cool cloth for his forehead and after rocking him in the rocking chair for amount 45 minutes Eren finally drifted back to sleep. However he didn't sleep for very long, shortly after Levi had put Eren back in his crib Eren woke up again because his stomach was upset; he ended up throwing up all over himself and the crib. Levi quickly got Eren changed out of his puke covered pajamas and started to run a bath so that he could get Eren cleaned up. Erwin woke up when he heard the sound of the tub filling up and went to see what was going on. Levi asked Erwin to give Eren a bath so that he could get the crib cleaned up. After Eren's bath was done Erwin dressed him in some clean pajamas and laid him down in the playpen. Once he was all comfy cozy Eren actually managed to sleep until 8:00 am.

The morning went by fairly well, Eren's fever had dropped slightly and he even managed to eat a few bites of oatmeal and a couple slices of banana. After breakfast he cuddled with Erwin on the couch while Levi cleaned up the kitchen, every now and then struggling through a coughing fit. When Levi was done in the kitchen he sat down on the couch with Eren and Erwin who were watching some TV. The three of them stayed like that until the early afternoon. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

Eren's fever had spiked back up going from 100 degrees up to 104 degrees in just a few hours. He also started to breath heavily and shake a little; he also started throwing up again. Levi and Erwin did there best to comfort the sick little boy but all Eren would do was cry. He refused to eat or drink anything and clung to whoever happened to be holding him. Levi took Eren to the nursery to change him and as soon as he laid Eren down on the changing table the little boy screamed.

"Eren. Hey what's wrong?" Levi asked trying to stay calm even though he was shocked by Eren's sudden screaming fit.

"Ahhh..Daddy...owie." Eren cried.

"Where does it hurt? I can't do anything if you don't tell me where the pain is." Levi said as he gently patted Eren's back.

"My...hic...t-tummy owie." As soon as Eren finished what he was saying he threw up all over Levi's shoulder twice; then he resumed crying and screaming. Erwin ran into the room to see what all the fuss was about. His eyes widened when he watched Eren throw up on Levi for the third time. Levi glared at Erwin in such a way that communicated "take Eren right NOW!" Erwin took Eren from Levi who dashed out of the room to change his cloths.

When Levi went back into the nursery, Erwin had changed Eren into clean cloths and was trying to calm him down. However all Eren would keep saying was that his tummy hurt. He still refused to eat or drink anything and Erwin and Levi were afraid that the boy was going to get dehydrated; especially sine he kept throwing up. After a few more hours of crying, coughing, and vomiting Eren still had a high fever that just wouldn't go down, Erwin suggested that they take Eren to see a doctor. So they quickly packed Eren's diaper bag and headed for the hospital.

* * *

They arrived at the hospital about half an hour later, and headed to the check in desk. Eren was still breathing heavily and also rather shaky due to the fever. He wasn't crying as loudly as he had been at home, most likely because the hospital was a new place for Eren, and Eren was always a little curious about new places. It was probably helping to distract him a bit from his aching tummy. They reached the check in desk and Erwin greeted the receptionist.

"How can I help you?" She said as she looked up from her computer.

"I have a rather sick child here that needs medical attention." Erwin said as he motioned towards Eren.

"Do you have the child's heath care information?" She asked. Erwin and Levi both paused, neither one of them had even considered the fact that they didn't have Eren's health care information or any of his important documentation.

"No, actually we don't."

"So then neither one of you must be this child's parent. After all any responsible parent would have their child's health care information." She said in a slightly condescending tone.

"Why don't you drop the attitude, or are you always this rude to patients?" Levi said. he was becoming annoyed. The receptionist just scowled.

"Please excuse my partners comment." Erwin said. "We are the child adoptive parents, and I do believe that you judging our level of responsibility is uncalled for."

"Well the child's health care information should have been in with the other documentation you received upon adoption. I find it strange that neither of you have it." She said. Just then Eren let out a pain filled whine, Levi quickly moving to comfort him. He decided to take Eren to the sitting are just a few steps away while Erwin handled things with the receptionist.

"I'm going to be honest with you. We are his adoptive parents, however it is not official." Erwin sighed as resumed his conversation with the receptionist.

"I'm afraid I don't follow, what do you mean not official?" She asked.

"A while back my partner discover the child in a basket. He had been abandoned so we decided to take him in." Erwin explained.

"Did you contact children's aid about this matter?" She asked. Erwin hesitated for a moment before replying.

"I see. Well that certainly complicates matters, doesn't it." She was about to continue the conversation when all of a sudden one of the doctors rushed over to the chair where Levi and Eren were sitting.

"Oh my gosh, you poor thing." She said touching Eren's forehead, immediately being startled by just how hot the infant was. "This child need medical attention right away. I want him moved to the first room now." She said as a nurse came over to take Eren and Levi to the room.

"But he hasn't been properly registered yet. Not to mention the fact the these men are illega-" Before she could finish the doctor cut her off.

"The registration can come later, he need treatment now. His fever is much to high and he is showing signs of dehydration. In a child this young it could be serious." She said. And with that the nurse directed Levi, Eren and Erwin to the first treatment room. The doctor laid Eren down on the bed and prepared an IV drip to give him some fluids and some medicine to help the fever go down. Levi and the nurse had to hold Eren down while the doctor put the needle into Eren's tiny arm. Eren kicked and screamed the whole time, crying and calling out for "daddy" and "papa". Once the medicine started kicking in he calmed down a little.

The doctor began to ask Levi and Erwin about Eren's symptoms, then preformed a check up on Eren to be able to give the proper diagnosis. After running a few tests she concluded that is was a pretty serious case of stomach flu. She also noted that Eren seemed to have a weaker immune system than most children his age which not only intensified his current symptoms but would also make him more prone to fevers and future sickness.

"I'd like to keep him overnight just to make sure his fluid intake is stable. Since his fever is rather high it's very important to make sure he gets extra fluids, you'll also have to keep that in mind in the future. I'm also going to prescribe some antibiotics." She said.

"Thank you. We really appreciate what you did for Eren. If I didn't know any better I would say you are nothing short of an angel." Erwin said shaking the doctors hand in gratitude. "I'm afraid in all the commotion I didn't catch your name."

"Krista. Krista Lenz, and you are too kind Mr. Smith. I'm just a doctor." She said. "We'll have Eren moved to an overnight room in the children's wing. I'll be back to check on him later in the evening."

* * *

The nurse got Eren settled in the overnight room, double checking his IV before leaving. Eren had fallen asleep and had been out for about two hours. Levi and Erwin never leaving Eren's side the entire time. The nurse was back to check on him a few time but other then that it was pretty quite in their little room. Eren's eyes opened a few minutes later and he looked around the room confused.

"Daddy….Papa." Eren said as he was about to cry.

"We're right here Eren." Levi said as he ruffled Eren's hair. Eren squirmed around a little in the hospital bed trying to get up, but Levi just pulled the blankets up and tucked Eren in. They had brought Eren's toy octopus with them in case he got to fussy. Levi pulled it out of the bag and gave it the Eren.

"Daddy. Wanna go home now." Eren said reaching out for Levi to pick him up.

"Not yet brat. We have to stay here tonight so the doctor can make you feel all better." Levi said as he ran his fingers through Eren's hair. Eren put up a little fuss but quickly got over it. The way Levi was running his fingers through Eren's hair was making him sleepy again and soon he was back in dream land. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, and there was a man dressed in an expensive looking suit was standing in the doorway.

* * *

"Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Smith I presume." The man said.

"Yes, can we help you?" Erwin asked curiously.

"My name is Nile Dok. I'm with children's aid." He said. Erwin's eyes went wide and Levi had positioned himself protectively in front of Eren. "Earlier today someone from this hospital contacted our office and informed us of your situation. I came here to confirm a few things. Would the two of you step outside with me for a moment?" Erwin followed right away but Levi hesitated. He didn't want to leave Eren but Erwin dragged him along anyway.

"Now I have already heard the gist of the situation but I would like to hear your side. I suggest you be honest, lying will only make things worse."

"Levi was walking home one night and he heard Eren crying in an ally near our apartment complex. Upon discovering him he brought him back to our place, where we agreed that he would stay with us." Erwin explained.

"And the two of you felt no need to contact us or the authorities."

"A poor judgment call on our part. However, we were prepared to offer the child a home and two parents who would treasure him." Erwin said. Levi just sat there silent, he knew that if he let his temper get the better of him it would only make the situation worse.

"Mr. Smith, may I remind you that what you are doing is illegal; regardless of your intentions." Nile said. "Now how long has the child been in your custody?"

"Eren has been with us for about 10 months." Erwin said, knowing that this would only work against them.

"I see. Unfortunately for the two of you that is going to make what I'm about to say much harder on you." The room was quiet for a minute before Nile spoke again. "When the doctor allows the child to be released from the hospital he will be coming with me."


	7. Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

"I see. Unfortunately for the two of you that is going to make what I'm about to say much harder on you." The room was quiet for a minute before Nile spoke again. "When the doctor allows the child to be released from the hospital he will be coming with me."

"What?" Levi growled as his eyes narrowed.

"Tomorrow, when the child is ready to be released I will be taking him with me. After doing a thorough investigation, we will decided if the two of you are suitable to become the child's legal guardians or if we will have to find him a family who is. Although the fact that you two have been keeping him illegally for about a year wont be ignored, so if I were you I wouldn't hold your breath." Nile said, leaving the two men standing there speechless as he left the hospital.

"Tch." Levi said as he turned and stormed back into Eren's room. He sat down in the chair right next to Eren's bed and gently held the sleeping boys tiny hand. Erwin entered the room silently and leaned against the wall by the window, watching as the sunset colored the room with its golden light. Levi leaned down towards Eren's head. "I wont let him take you away, I'll do whatever it takes." Levi whispered into his ear. Erwin decided to go back to their apartment to get some of Eren's thing for tomorrow while Levi stayed glued to Eren's side.

* * *

Levi stayed awake the rest of the night, he couldn't possibly sleep knowing that tomorrow would be hell. After all, he had promised to always protect his little brat and now Eren was about to be snatched away by a pompous ass in a cheep suit. He knew that the best course of action would be to let the social worker take Eren without much of a fight because it would help their chances of getting him back in the future. However the best course of action isn't always the easiest. Levi couldn't even imagine Eren not being in his and Erwin's life. He hated the thought of never again feeding Eren oatmeal for breakfast, or watching him play with his toys, or seeing him smile or hearing him say "daddy" He knew he would have to man up and do the right thing, even if it felt so wrong. Levi was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice Eren wake up.

"Daddy." Eren said as he rubbed his eyes. He was still clearly very tired.

"Shhh. Go back to sleep it's late." Levi whispered as he ran his fingers through Eren's hair. Eren yawned a few times as Levi continued to stroke his hair.

"Want daddy to sing the song." Eren said. Levi had started singing to Eren one night a few months ago when he had woken up crying from a bad dream, it was the only lullaby that he knew. It worked like a charm though, as soon as the song was finished Eren was calm and ready to go back to sleep. Eren loved the song and was always asking Levi to sing it to him. Levi sighed a little because the lyrics of the song were going to hit a little to close to home, but he just couldn't say no so he started singing.

" _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you..."_ Levi hesitated before singing the last line. _"…Please don't take my sunshine away."_ Levi sang quietly while still running his fingers through Eren's hair.

"Daddy…." Eren yawned. "Love you daddy." Eren said as he drifted off to sleep. Levi's eyes widened, Eren's words had gone straight to his heart and for the first time in years; Levi felt tears roll down his cheeks.

"I love you too Eren." Levi said as he collapsed face down onto Eren's bed gripping the sheets tightly in his hands and cried, knowing that this might be the last time he ever heard those three little words.

* * *

Eren woke up that morning feeling better than yesterday, he still had a slight fever but over all he seemed much healthier. Around 7:30 a nurse brought Eren some breakfast, he was pretty hungry after not eating much yesterday and managed to let Levi feed him most of the food on the tray before saying he was full. Eren was pretty much back to his normal self. His energy level was still a little low but he was back to talking up a storm. He was also quite the cuddle bug this morning, begging Levi or Erwin to hold him.

"Papa. Up please." Eren said for about the third time.

"Eren, we can't pick you up, You need to stay in bed until the doctor comes back" Erwin said ruffling Eren's hair. Eren whined the word "up" several more times until Levi had an idea. He scooted Eren to the side and climbed into the hospital bed, then he scooted Eren back towards him, until Eren was in his lap. They stayed like that for awhile, while Erwin sat in the chair next to them. Both men were quiet because they knew any minute their happy little family was about to be broken.

"We go home soon?" Eren asked. Levi and Erwin tensed up not knowing how to answer.

"No Eren we can't." Levi said.

"Why?" Eren asked.

"We just can't" Levi said as he looked out the window, watching the clouds in the clear blue sky. A few minutes later Dr. Lenz came into the room to check on Eren. Levi had gotten up out of bed and moved to the side of the room next to Erwin so that she could remove Eren's IV. When she was done she said that he was ready for release. This ordinarily would have made Levi and Erwin feel relieved, today however it only caused them to become anxious. Hospital security was outside Eren's room, they had been given orders to make sure Levi and Erwin didn't try to leave the hospital before the Nile arrived. About half an hour later there was a knock on the door.

"Good afternoon, I trust you two are going to cooperate and make this as easy as possible." Nile said as he entered the room. Erwin handed Nile the bag that had some of Eren's cloths, his toy octopus, and a few other items Eren might need. "I'll give you five minutes to say your goodbyes, then the child and I will be going." Nile said as he stepped out of the room. Erwin picked Eren up off of the bed and held him tightly for a moment.

"Eren, we love you very much. Unfortunately for right now we can't take you home with us. That man is going to take you with him for a while, and someone else is going to take care of you." Erwin said trying to help Eren understand what's going to happen. "We don't want you to go, we don't want him to take you. We're so sorry Eren, daddy and papa love you and we'll do our best so that we can bring to home. But for now we are going to be away from each other." Erwin kissed Eren's forehead then passed him to Levi. Levi didn't know what to say, all he could do was hold Eren tightly in his arms.

"You'll always be my little brat, and I'll get you back no matter what." Levi whispered into Eren's ear so quietly that no one else could hear him. Just then Nile came back into the room.

"It's time." He said as he held his arms out so that he could take Eren. Levi reluctantly tried to hand Eren to him when Eren began to fuss.

"No, want daddy. No No!" Eren cried trying to cling to Levi's arm. He somehow managed to get Eren into Nile's arms. "No! Daddy...Papa." Eren cried as he struggled in Nile's arms. Nile said their office would be contacting Levi and Erwin by the end of next week, he then turned and began to leave the room when Eren started screaming.

"DADDY.…PAPA!" He continued to scream and cry as Nile started walking out of the room and down the hallway. Erwin looked away knowing that if he saw Eren's face he would break down. Levi stood there looking at the ground with clenched fists, while every single one of Eren's screams hit him hard almost as if he was being punched over and over. When the crying had gotten too far away to hear, Levi's body moved on its own as he ran down the hospital halls after Nile; ignoring Erwin telling him to stop as he chased after him. Levi ran all the way out to the parking lot and got there just as Nile was buckling Eren into the car seat in the back of his car. Eren was still inconsolable, crying harder then Levi had ever seen him cry. Eren then saw Levi standing there in the parking lot.

"Daddy…!" Eren screamed reaching his hand towards Levi. Nile shut the car door muffling Eren's crying then walked around to the drivers side. Just before getting in he told Levi it would be wise for him not to get any closer. Levi glared at Nile's comment and was about to run up to the car when Erwin wrapped his arms aroung Levi's waist holding him back. Together the two of them watch as the car that their baby boy was in drove out of sight. Now all they could do was wait.


	8. Right Now I Wish You Were Here

"Daddy…!" Eren screamed reaching his hand towards Levi. Nile shut the car door muffling Eren's crying then walked around to the drivers side. Just before getting in he told Levi it would be wise for him not to get any closer. Levi glared at Nile's comment and was about to run up to the car when Erwin wrapped his arms around Levi's waist holding him back. Together the two of them watched as the car that their baby boy was in drove out of sight. Now all they could do was wait.

* * *

The car ride home from the hospital was quiet, neither Levi or Erwin said anything. After all what was there to say? Erwin knew that any attempt to comfort Levi would only serve to piss him off even more so he stayed silent. Meanwhile Levi was so lost in his thoughts that he couldn't care less about the world around him; the only thing on his mind was Eren. As they got closer to their apartment Erwin noticed that Levi was becoming more and more tense, most likely because their apartment wouldn't feel like home anymore. Eren had turned their simple life into something so special, and without their little boy the apartment would feel empty.

The car hadn't even fully stopped before Levi threw his door open and ran towards their building. He sprinted up the stair and unlocked the door slamming it behind him as he went inside, collapsing on the living room couch. Erwin came in a moment later. He had heard the door slam and decided it would be best to give Levi some space so Erwin headed to the kitchen table. He needed a distraction from his own thoughts so he picked up the news paper and began to read, letting the words of each article fully occupy his mind. Levi stayed on the couch just staring at the ceiling, knowing that nothing would be able to get his mind off his blue eyed brat.

Levi stayed staring at the ceiling for 3 hours the whole time thinking of Eren; his most frequent thought being _"I need to get him back."_ He probably would have stayed on the couch all night if Erwin hadn't interrupted his thought by placing his hand on Levi's shoulder.

"Levi I made dinner, I think you should come have something to eat." Levi didn't say anything. He just got up off the couch and headed to the table. They ate in silence for the most part, every now and then Erwin tried to make small talk, but after receiving no response he gave up. When they were done Erwin cleaned up the kitchen, once he was done the two of them showered then headed to bed. However it proved to be a sleepless night.

Erwin found himself tossing and turning, it was just about 3:30 in the morning when he opened his eyes to check the clock. When he rolled over he realized that Levi wasn't in bed. Erwin was immediately concerned and got out of bed to look for him. After opening the bedroom door he noticed that the light was on in the nursery. He saw Levi sitting in the rocking chair holding Eren's baby blanket as he rocked back and forth.

"Can't sleep?" Erwin asked as he entered the nursery and leaned against the wall.

"No." Levi said. It was the first time he had spoken since they left the hospital.

"I miss Eren too." Erwin said as he squatted down next to Levi. "But I believe that we will get him back. We just need to be patient and we can't let our grief get the better of us. We need to stay strong for Eren's sake."

"Of course we're gong to get him back. Like hell I'm going to let that bastard keep my brat away from me." Levi said as he clenched the blanket in his hands. Erwin smirked as he stood up. He was glad to see that Levi hadn't lost his stubbornness, it let him know that even though Levi had been greatly affected by their situation, he was still ready to fight for what he wanted. Erwin somehow managed to convince Levi to come back to bed with him hoping that they both could get even just a little sleep.

* * *

It was turning out to be a rough week. Monday Erwin had to go back to work, he was a bit apprehensive to leave Levi by himself. It was going to be th first full day without Eren and Erwin was concerned about how Levi would deal with it. His concerns were eased though when Levi said he was going to be working with Farlen in the bookstore all day. He also told Erwin to stop treating him like he was some fragile little flower. So Erwin went off to work as did Levi, Monday came and went without too much of a problem.

Tuesday was harder to handle, Levi hadn't been sleeping and was in a pretty foul mood. He snapped at Erwin all morning before they both went to work; and he wasn't much better during his interactions with Farlen either. In fact the entire morning while Levi was working he was practically unapproachable. Some of their customers were actually afraid of Levi because of the glare in his eyes. By mid afternoon Farlen suggested that Levi go home for the day and to take a few days off. When Erwin got home he found Levi on the couch staring at the ceiling again and after a few failed attempts at getting Levi to move, Erwin gave up. Levi spent the entire night in that same position.

Wednesday was when the real fight began. When Erwin had gotten home from work he found Levi in Eren's room. He was sitting in the rocking chair holding the picture Hange had taken of the them with Eren at his birthday party. Oddly enough it was the only picture that they had of the three of them together. In the picture Levi was holding Eren in his arms so that Eren was facing forward while Erwin was standing next to Levi with his arms around his waist, holding him close. Erwin had a very soft and happy smile on his face, Levi appeared totally uninterested like he usually did and Eren had a great big smile on his face. It would have been the perfect picture if Eren's beautiful turquoise eyes weren't closed. Erwin noticed Levi's hands grip the picture frame tighter. Then without warning Levi stood up and threw the frame as hard as he could at the wall, causing the glass to shatter into several tiny pieces as it fell to the floor. Erwin ran into the room and wrapped his arms around Levi to hold him still.

"Levi calm down. What's gotten into y-" But before he could finish his sentence Levi elbowed him in the ribs hard enough to make Erwin let go of him. Levi then stormed off to the living room and went back to laying on the couch. Erwin had finally had enough and he followed Levi to the living room.

"Look I know that you miss Eren and that you want him back but this is getting ridiculous."

"Well at least I actually give a shit that he isn't here." Levi said still staring at the ceiling.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Erwin asked out of shock

"The last few days you've been doing everything the same as if Eren was never even here in the first place." Levi said as he sat up so that he could look at Erwin. "But I guess that only makes sense since you were the one who wanted to call children's aid the night I brought him home. Looks like you finally got what you really wanted." SMACK! Erwin slapped Levi across the face, causing Levi's pale white skin to turn red.

"Listen to me and listen good. I miss _our son_ just as much as you do. Don't you dare think otherwise." There was an awkward silence that lasted for awhile, neither of the men were sure what to say next. Erwin was about to leave the room when he felt Levi grab his hand. He turned his head to look at Levi, that's when he saw something in Levi's eyes that he had never seen before. _Fear._ Levi was afraid. Afraid of losing the boy he promised to protect, afraid that he was pushing away the man he loved, afraid of feeling so weak. Erwin sat down next to Levi, gently pulling him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line." Levi said so quietly that Erwin almost didn't hear him.

"I'm sorry too, I don't think I realized just how difficult this was for you until now." Erwin said hugging Levi tighter. They stayed that way for a bout an hour when the phone started to ring. Erwin said he would answer it while Levi went to get some ice for his cheek.

* * *

"Hello." Erwin said as he picked up the phone.

"Mr. Smith, this is Nile Dok from children's aid. I'd like to have you and Mr. Ackerman come to my office on Friday around 3:00 pm."

"I assume that this is in regards to whether we will be getting Eren back or not, correct?"

"Yes. Given the nature of this case the director would like to speak to the two of you regarding the findings of our investigation as well as determine your suitability to become the child's guardians."

"Will we be able to see Eren while we are there?"

"Yes, the director is willing to allow the two of you and the child to see each other. He says viewing how the two of you interact with the boy will help him make his decision."

"Very well. We will see you Friday."


	9. Yours To Hold

"Hello." Erwin said as he picked up the phone.

"Mr. Smith, this is Nile Dok from children's aid. I'd like to have you and Mr. Ackerman come to my office on Friday around 3:00 pm."

"I assume that this is in regards to whether we will be getting Eren back or not, correct?"

"Yes. Given the nature of this case the director would like to speak to the two of you regarding the findings of our investigation as well as determine your suitability to become the child's guardians."

"Will we be able to see Eren while we are there?"

"Yes, the director is willing to allow the two of you and the child to see each other. He says viewing how the two of you interact with the boy will help him make his decision."

"Very well. We will see you Friday."

* * *

It was finally Friday the day that would determine whether or not Eren would be able to go home with his daddy and papa, or if he would be put up for adoption. Erwin had explained the situation to his boss and was given permission to leave work early. He quickly left work and headed home to pick up Levi so they could head over to Nile's office together. Levi was already waiting outside when Erwin pulled up in front of their building; Levi got into the car and they went on their way. The car ride was silent for the most part, Erwin watching the road while Levi stared absentmindedly out the window. After another 45 minutes they had finally arrived at the children's aid office. Erwin parked the car and then the two men headed into the building, taking the elevator to the 15th floor. As the elevator made it's way up Erwin noticed Levi scowl and mutter something under his breath. Erwin sighed.

"Levi, will you please try to be civil while we are in there" Erwin said.

"The fact is the odds don't look to good for us. Even if the investigation didn't turn up anything negative, the fact that we raised Eren for ten months without reporting it is going to be a big factor. The last thing we need if for your hostility to be working against us as well."

The elevator dinged and opened when they reached their floor. They walked down the hall reading the name plates on the doors until the found Nile's office. Erwin knocked on the door and they heard a voice on the other side tell them to come in.

"Mr. Smith, Mr. Ackerman good to see that you made it." Nile said. He grabbed some documents from his desk and motioned for Erwin and Levi to follow him. The three men walked down the hallway until they reached a room with a name plate that said Conference Room 1. Nile told Levi and Erwin to have a seat and that the director would be in shortly. Levi and Erwin sat on one side of the table and Nile sat on the other.

"Where is Eren?" Levi asked.

"Patients Mr. Ackerman, one of the office assistants will bring him in shortly." Nile said. "The director would like to have a word with you two before you can see the child." The three of them sat there for another 5 minutes when they heard foot steps coming towards the room. An older gentleman came into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Ah, so these are the lads who have been raising the abandoned child. I commend the two of you on your thoughtful and caring nature, however your judgement skills could use a bit of work." He said as he sat down next to Nile. "Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Dot Pixis, I'll be making the final decision as to whether or not you will get the boy back."

"I am Erwin Smith and this my partner Levi Ackerman." Erwin said as he shook Mr. Pixis's hand, Levi doing the same.

"Well I've gone over Nile's report and don't see anything that concerns me as to whether or not the two of you would make adequate guardians. Mr. Smith, you work for a good company and Mr. Ackerman owns a respectable business. Neither of you are involved in questionable activities. That being said the fact that the two of you lacked the judgement to contact us right away is a hard fact to ignore, care to explain the thought process behind that judgement call" Mr. Pixis said. Erwin did his best to explain why the two of them did what they did as well as acknowledged that it was a poor decision. He answered Nile and Mr. Pixis's questions as best as he could.

"Mr. Ackerman. You've been oddly silent." Mr. Pixis said. "I understand that you were the one to find the boy, based on what Mr. Smith said you didn't want to contact us, why is that?" Levi was quiet for a minute while all three of the men stared at him. Erwin immediately got nervous, they had agreed that it would be best if Erwin did most of the talking because he was better with people than Levi was. Levi looked Mr. Pixis in the eyes. "I'd like to hear your reasons, Mr. Ackerman.

Levi wasn't really prepared to answer that question because he didn't really know the answer himself. Why was he so immediately attached to a baby he found in an ally? Why keep and raise him? Why? Levi knew that they wanted an answer. When others had asked him in the past he didn't know what to say, but after almost 6 days without Eren in his life Levi at least had a slight idea as to why.

"He needed me." Levi started to say. "If I had contacted you there would be no guarantee that we would become his guardians. It was obvious that he specifically need me, I was always able to calm him down the fastest, he didn't like to be away from me. I needed to protect him, because he needed me. I would do anything for that boy, because Eren is my son."

Before anyone could respond the sound of crying could be heard in the hall just out side the door. Levi knew that cry, it was unmistakeably Eren. Levi attempted to get up from the table but Erwin grabbed hold of his arm and made him sit, while giving him a look that said "be patient." A young woman knocked on the door. Nile went to the door and opened it just a bit.

"Sorry sir, the poor thing was crying so loudly he was disrupting the other employees." She said bouncing Eren in her arms trying to get him to calm down. Levi desperately wanted to rush to Eren and comfort him be Erwin still held him back.

"It's fine, just bring him in." Nile said as the woman came in behind him. When Eren looked around the room and saw Levi and Erwin he started to cry and scream.

"Papa...Daddy!" Eren screamed as he reached franticly for them. Levi broke free of Erwin's hold and walked quickly over to Eren taking him from the woman. As soon as he was in Levi's arms Eren started to calm down. Levi walked back over to his chair and he and Eren sat down. After another minute Eren had stopped crying and was now snuggling into Levi's chest while Erwin ruffled the boys hair. Levi took the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the tears away form Eren's face. "I misses daddy and papa." Eren said as he snuggled back into Levi's chest.

"We missed you too brat." Levi said as he hugged Eren a little closer. The four men kept talking for awhile longer, going over the details of their case. Eren started to squirm in Levi's arms, so Levi started to bounce Eren on his knees. Eren started to giggled, he then reached out and grabbed a hold of Erwin's tie and started pulling on it. "Enough. Eren, papa's tie isn't a toy" Levi said quietly as he got Eren to let go. Eren giggled again as he turned around to cuddle with Levi some more. After a bit more discussion Mr. Pixis was ready to make his decision.

"Other then the fact that the two of you should have contacted us the night you found him and didn't, I see no reason as to why you can't become the boy's guardians. Therefore I grant Levi Ackerman and Erwin Smith the custody of this child. I'll contact the local adoption agency and we'll make it official." Mr. Pixis said.

"But sir, they were illegally raising this child in the first place. Are you really going to reward them for breaking the law. We should be contacting the police not an adoption agency." Nile argued.

"Nile. When you look at the three of them you see two criminals and a victimised child. Do you know what I see when I look at them?" Mr. Pixis asked. Nile shook his head. "I see two loving parents who care very deeply for their son, and a child who just wants to be in his father's arms. Upon being held by Mr. Ackerman that child went form inconsolable to laughing in the span of 5 minutes. While in our care that child was miserable. In all my years I have never seen a child as happy as Eren when he is in the arms of those men right in front of you. It's as Mr. Ackerman said earlier, Eren needs him and they need Eren." Mr. Pixis walked over to Erwin and Levi and shook both of their hands. "I'll be contacting you when I hear from the adoption agency."

"Thank you. You have our gratitude." Erwin said.

"Daddy." Eren said as he tugged on the collar of Levi's shirt.

"What?"

"We go home?" Eren asked. Levi and Erwin smiled as they looked at their little boy.

"Yes we can go home."

 **A/N: That's not technically how the whole children's aid thing works by the way. Let's just call this chapter "plot convenience" because it was the easiest way to move the plot along :) ;)**


	10. Life Goes On

"We go home?" Eren asked. Levi and Erwin smiled as they looked at their little boy.

"Yes we can go home"

* * *

 _2 and a 1/2 Years Later_

They were incredibly happy as a family. Levi and Erwin were very thankful that the adoption had been successful and they were able to raise Eren. He certainly brightened up their world and they loved him more then anything else. Eren had recently turned 4 years old and everyone always commented on how Eren was a very happy and usually well behaved child. He very rarely through temper tantrums, unless he was over tired or not feeling well.

It was obvious to everyone that Eren loved his fathers very much, he even began to copy the things Erwin and Levi did. Eren copied the way Levi held his cups from the rim when he was drinking something, though he usually had hold the bottom of the cup to keep from dropping it; which was rather cute to watch and usually made Levi smirk. He also started copying Levi's cleaning habits, if Levi was dusting Eren would dust, if Levi was sweeping Eren would sweep and so on. Since Levi was a bit of a clean freak it made him happy to see that even though Eren was a child, he wasn't a messy child. Eren would also copy Erwin when he read the newspaper. He would take the part that Erwin was finished with and pretend to read it while they sat together. Also if Erwin was doing paperwork, Eren would get out his crayons and paper and scribble on them as if he was doing paperwork too. Every time Eren copied him, Erwin would chuckle and pat him on the head.

Eren was also very affectionate. He loved being held and hugged and usually wanted to sit in Levi or Erwin's lap. Eren was very attached to Erwin and Levi, it had even gotten to the point where at bed time he would ask if he could sleep in daddy and papa's bed with them. At first they told him no, because he was a big boy and big boys can sleep in their own rooms. However, Eren kept asking and after continuing to tell him no, Eren started sneaking into their room at night and climbing into bed with them. Erwin said it was probably just a phase and he would grow out of it. Eren ended up sleeping in their bed almost every night, but after a few months Eren only slept in their bed a couple times a week.

Levi and Erwin also discovered that Eren was a very energetic little boy. He almost always wanted to play, he liked to run around and his favorite place to go was the playground in the near by park. It didn't matter how much Levi and Erwin played with him, he always had the energy to keep going. It was getting increasingly difficult for Levi during the week when he was trying to run the shop and look after a little boy who didn't sit still. Most of the time Farlen had to handle the customers while Levi tried to keep Eren somewhat occupied. When the shop wasn't too busy, Levi would teach Eren how to read. He could even recognized most of the words in his storybooks. Eren had developed a real interest in books, probably from spending so much time with Levi in the bookstore during the week. Besides the fact that Eren didn't always sit still, the other problem they were having was that because Eren was such a friendly and happy child he would sometimes go up to customers in the store and start talking to them, despite the number of times Levi warned him not to talk to strangers. Eren certainly was turning out to be quite the handful.

* * *

"Vroom vroom." Eren said as he rolled his toy car around on the blanket where he was sitting. It was Thursday and just like any other Thursday Eren was playing by the front checkout desk in the bookstore while Levi and Farlen were working. Next to the front desk was the best place for Levi to keep an eye on Eren. When he was a baby Levi set up his playpen there, however, Eren was now to big for his playpen so Levi laid a blanket and some pillows down for Eren to sit on while he played. "Daddy." Eren said looking up at Levi who had just finished helping a customer.

"What do you want brat?" Levi said as he squatted down next to Eren.

"Play with me." He said as he handed Levi a toy truck.

"Not right now Eren, There are too many customers." Levi said putting the truck back down on the blanket. "I'll play with you tonight when work is over, ok" He said as he ruffled Eren's hair.

"Ok." Eren said pouting a little. Levi stood back up and went back to helping the customers while Eren played with his toy cars. Eren decided that his cars should have a race, so he took one in each hand and pushed them so that they rolled across the blanket. The first time he did it the cars made it to just the edge of the blanket. Eren crawled over and picked them up and decided to do it again. This time he pushed them harder, so hard in fact that one of them rolled right off the blanket and started to roll down one of the rows of bookshelves.

Eren knew that daddy wouldn't be happy if he found one of Eren's toys in the middle of the store. Eren decided he would get up and go get it really quick, before his daddy even knew he got up. He ran in the direction of his toy, which had surprisingly rolled all the way to the end of the row. Eren had just about made it to his car when another little boy walked in front of him. Eren ran right into the other boy knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop the book he was holding.

"Ouch." The little boy said as he sat up.

"I'm sorry." Eren said. Then he held out his hand to help the little boy up.

"I'm ok, but y-you r-really should be more c-careful." He stuttered.

"Eren!" Levi said sternly causing both of the boys to look at him. "Eren , how many times do I have to tell you not to run in the store."

"I'm sorry daddy." Eren said looking down at the floor.

"Are you alright?" Levi asked the little boy. He looked at Levi and nodded his head yes then went to pick up the book he had dropped.

"Hey!" Eren said loudly causing both Levi and the other boy to look at him. "I know that book. Daddy readed it to my at bedtime." Eren said as he pointed at the book in the boys hand.

"Read." The boy said. Eren looked at him confused. "Daddy _read_ you the book. Readed isn't a word." He explained. Levi had to admit he was a bit impressed, he had never met a child his age who knew how to be grammatically correct.

"Ah there you are. Did you pick out a book, Armin." An elderly man said as he came around the corner and patted the blonde on the head. Armin nodded at him and handed him the book. "Looks like you also made a friend while we were here." he said looking towards Eren.

"I'm Eren. I'm four." Eren said as he held up four fingers.

"Well it's nice to meet you Eren." The elderly man chuckled. "And you must be Eren's father." He said looking at Levi.

"Yes, this brat is mine." Levi said as he picked Eren up in his arms.

"I have a feeling that these two will become very good friends so we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other Mr...?"

"Ackerman." Levi said as he shook the elderly man's hand. "It would be good if they became friends. Eren doesn't get to play with other kids his age."

Levi and the elderly man, who turned out to be Armin's grandfather, talked for a while longer. According to him, Armin went to a daycare center a few days a week when he was unable to look after him. Armin was shy and didn't have many friends, and Eren was friendly and out going but since he was usually at home he hadn't had the chance to make friends yet. Because of this the two agreed that they should set up a play date for the boys sometime. After exchanging phone numbers and after Armin's grandfather paid for the books, the two of them left the store saying goodbye to Eren and Levi.

* * *

It had been a busy day for Levi, between trying to take care of Eren and helping the insane amount of customers, he was exhausted. He called Erwin and asked him to pick up a pizza because he didn't feel like cooking tonight. So when Erwin got home from work with the pizza they sat down at the table to eat.

"Pizza pizza pizza." Eren said over and over as Levi cut up his slice so that it was easier to eat. Pizza was Eren's favorite food these days, so he was very happy. Levi and Erwin chatted about how each of their days were. Erwin told Levi about how he spent most of the day planning out the details of their company's next major assignment. Levi told Erwin about how busy they were today and how Eren ended up making friends with a little blonde haired boy who was the same age and Eren.

"Daddy." Eren said after swallowing a bit of his pizza. "What's a play date?"

"It's when two kids go to each others house to play for a while." Levi said as he wiped pizza sauce off of Eren's face.

"Oh." Eren said. " Papa what's daycare?"

"Daycare is a place where little kids go during the day to play with other little kid, while their parents are at work."

"You get to play all day" Eren asked excitedly.

"For most of the day, yes." Erwin said.

"I wanna go to daycare! I wanna go!" Eren said bounced up and down in his chair. Levi told Eren to calm down and finish his pizza. Once he was done Erwin gave Eren a bath and got him into his pajamas. The two of them went back to the living room where Levi was sitting on the couch Eren gave Levi a big hug and said good night. Then Erwin carried Eren back to his room where he tucked him in and read him a bed time story. Erwin kissed Eren's forehead and was about to leave the room.

"Papa will you stay till I fall asleep?" Eren asked as he yawned. Erwin came back over and sat on the floor next to Eren's bed, he ran his fingers through the boys hair watching Eren drift off to sleep. about ten minutes later he was out like a light. Erwin got up and went to the living room, sitting next to Levi on the couch.

"Do you think we should enroll him in daycare?" Erwin asked.

"I suppose." Levi said, but their was something about the way he said it that made Erwin think that Levi didn't really mean it.

"Levi, I think it would be good for him to go to daycare. It would give him a chance to branch out, make some friends." Erwin reasoned. "Besides just think of how cute it will be to hear him tell us about all the fun things he did during the day. I can already picture the gigantic smile on his face as he tells us about his day."

After a little more convincing, Levi also agreed that enrolling Eren in daycare would be a good thing. Tomorrow morning Levi would call the local daycare and get Eren properly enrolled. Erwin and Levi thought that he could go Monday to Thursday, which were the same days that the bookstore was open. This way Levi wouldn't have to struggle between watching Eren and running the store, especially if they got busy. Erwin and Levi were glad that their little boy was going to be able to make friends and have some fun. They knew that Eren was just going to love daycare.


	11. Old Friends & New Friends

After a little more convincing, Levi also agreed that enrolling Eren in daycare would be a good thing. Tomorrow morning Levi would call the local daycare and get Eren properly enrolled. Erwin and Levi thought that he could go Monday to Thursday, which were the same days that the bookstore was open. This way Levi wouldn't have to struggle between watching Eren and running the store, especially if they got busy. Erwin and Levi were glad that their little boy was going to be able to make friends and have some fun. They knew that Eren was just going to love daycare.

* * *

It was Sunday night and all weekend long the only thing Eren talked about was daycare. The little boy must have asked Levi and Erwin nearly a hundred questions about what it would be like. "Is it time for daycare yet?" "Do they have blocks at daycare?" "Are there gonna be lots of kids?" "Does daycare have swings on the playground?" It was getting to the point where the two men couldn't handle any more of Eren's questions.

"Eren, I don't know what they have at daycare." Levi sighed. Eren had always been and inquisitive boy ever since he learned how to talk. Normally Levi could tolerate Eren's constant question asking, but if he heard the word daycare one more time he was sure he was going to snap.

"Oh." Eren said. "Papa do you know what daycare has?"

"No Eren I don't know either." Erwin said causing Eren to pout a little. "But tomorrow is your first day so you will be able to see what they have when daddy takes you there." Eren seemed satisfied with that answer for now and went back to eating his dinner. Once Eren was finished eating his dinner he said good night to Erwin and went with Levi to get ready for bed.

After Levi got him into his pajamas Levi picked the little boy up and tucked him in. He ruffled Eren's hair and was just about to leave the room when he felt a tiny hand grab hold of his shirt sleeve. Levi turned toward Eren to see what he wanted.

"I wanna sleep in daddy and papa's bed." Eren said using his best pouty face. Levi sighed.

"Not tonight brat. Tomorrow is your first day at daycare and you need to get a good nights sleep." Levi said. He wasn't willing to give into Eren's puppy dog eyes this time. Eren had developed a new habit of wanting to sleep in Levi and Erwin's bed.

This started when he was about three and a half, Eren had had a pretty bad dream and a result he refused to sleep by himself. At first Levi and Erwin let their frightened little boy sleep in their bed, mostly because they were sure it was a phase that he would grow out of. However after almost three months of having Eren sleep in their bed, Levi and Erwin decided that they needed to start breaking him of this new habit. When it was time for bed they would wait until Eren was completely asleep then one of them would carefully pick Eren up and tuck him into his own bed. Lately Eren had been much better about sleep in his own bed, but every now and the he would put up a fuss and beg to sleep with daddy and papa.

"Please! I wanna sleep with you and papa." Eren whined. "Pleeeassse!"

" _Eren._ I said not tonight. Now be good and go to sleep." Levi said as he readjusted Eren's blankets before leaving the room. Eren laid in bed pouting. He really wanted to sleep in daddy and papa's bed, but he knew that when daddy said his name like that it meant that he was getting mad; and Eren didn't like it when daddy got mad at him.

A few hours later after Erwin and Levi had gone to bed, Erwin was awoken by a small hand tugging on his shirt sleeve.

"Papa." Eren whispered as he kept tugging on Erwin's sleeve . "Papa wake up."

"Eren what are you doing up? You should be asleep." Erwin whispered. Eren was quiet for a moment then looked down at the floor.

"I had a bad dream." Erwin knew that Eren didn't really have a bad dream because if he did he would have been crying and calling for daddy or papa so he wouldn't have to leave his room. Erwin knew that what Eren really wanted was to sleep in their bed even though Levi had already told him that he couldn't. Eren stood their pouting in the hopes that papa would let him have his way. Luckily for Eren, Erwin happened to be a big softy when it came to the people he cared about; despite his Captain American tough guy appearance.

"Come here." Erwin said as he lifted Eren up into their bed. "Go right to sleep ok, we don't want to wake daddy up." He whispered.

"Ok. Night papa." Eren whispered as he snuggled up to Erwin.

* * *

The alarm went off at 6:30 just like it did everyday during the week. Levi reached out and turned it off then laid back down for a minute to try to adjust to being awake. He was just about to get up when Eren jumped excitedly on top of him, causing Levi to groan.

"Daddy daddy it's daycare day! Get up get up." Eren said as he continued to bounce up and down on Levi's chest. Without a word Levi sat up and carried the excited brunette to the kitchen to have breakfast, Erwin following them chuckling slightly. The happy little family of three sat down and had breakfast together, and once they were finished Erwin said goodbye and headed off to work; while Levi got Eren dressed and ready to go to daycare. Levi locked the door to their apartment then carried Eren down the stairs. Since Eren could be accident prone Levi decided that he or Erwin should carry the four year old down the steep steps to avoid any injuries. Levi continued to carry Eren once they reached the bottom of the steps, until the little boy caught sight of Farlen at the front desk of the bookstore.

"Farlen!" Eren called as he wiggled his way out of Levi's arms. He ran over to Farlen and started tugging on his pant leg. "Farlen guess what."

"What Eren?" Farlen asked as he ruffled the little boy's already messy brown hair.

"I'm gonna go to daycare today!" Eren said excitedly.

"Well now, doesn't that sound like fun." Eren nodded his head yes, then took hold of Levi's hand and began insistently saying lets go.

"I'll be back after I drop Eren off at daycare." Levi said as the two of them headed out the door.

* * *

Since the daycare was only about a ten minute walk from the bookstore Levi that he and Eren would walk instead of taking the car. Levi and Eren's hand as they went down the street, the little boy chattered the whole time about how it was daycare day and how much fun it was going to be.

When they arrived at the daycare Levi opened the front door and they went inside. Levi glared when he saw the spunky red headed girl whose hair was pulled back into pigtails, she appeared to be one of the daycare teachers; Levi would recognize those pigtails anywhere.

"Well look what the cat dragged in, no one told me you were back in town Isabel." Levi said snidely. Isabel gave him a goofy smirk.

"I wanted it to be a surprise so I told everyone not to tell you. Besides you could at least pretend to be happy to see me after so long, god you're such a sourpuss big bro." Isabel said as she stuck her tongue out. Isabel and Levi met when Isabel was in middle school and he was in high school. Isabel was trying to nurse an injured bird back to health and Levi helped her out, ever since then she looked up to him like an older brother.

Eren tugged on Levi's pant leg to get his attention, wanting to know if he could play yet.

"Look at you Eren, you've gotten so big." Isabel said as he squatted down to Eren's level. "I haven't seen you since you were two years old." Isabel was a free spirit and never stuck around town for too long. She was always off on one adventure or another and it was the first time in almost two years that Levi had seen her; but no matter how long she stayed away she always came home. "Do you remember me?" Eren shook his head no. " I'm your daddy's friend Isabel."

"I'm Eren, I'm four." Eren said as he held up four fingers. When ever Eren introduced himself he always said his name and age. It was a quirk that Levi and Erwin found amusing. Isabel smiled at Eren and patted him on the head before standing back up to Levi's level.

"So how long do you plan to grace us with you're presence this time?" Levi asked in his usual cold manner. Before she couple respond, one of the other employees asked her if she could watch the rest of the kids momentarily while she could run to the supply closet.

"Well duty calls. I'll come over for dinner tonight so we can catch up." Isabel said as she headed towards the playroom.

"Tch. Don't invite yourself over."

"I'll be there at 6:30 and you better make something yummy for dinner." She said as she stuck her tongue out at him. Levi sighed then he squatted down to help Eren take off his jacket and hang it on the coat rack with the other children's coats.

"Alright brat be good. I'll be back to get you at 12:30." This daycare offered two options for childcare, half day or full day. Erwin and Levi decided that they would start out with Eren going half days so that it would be easier for him to adjust to this new change.

"No. Daddy stay and play with me." Eren said as he grabbed Levi's hand tightly.

"Daycare is for children Eren. I need to go back to work." Levi said as he pulled his hand away. Eren started to pout.

"I wanna stay with daddy." Eren whined.

"Eren you've been driving me crazy for three days talking about going to daycare. So your going to stay here." Levi said sternly.

"But..." Eren started to say but got distracted when he saw Armin and his grandfather walk through the door. "Armin!" Eren said excitedly as he ran over to the other boy.

"Hi Eren." Armin said quietly. Eren talked a mile a minute as Armin's grandfather help Armin out of his jacket. The little blonde boy smiled the whole time, he was happy because it was the first time another kid wanted to talk to him this much. Being a shy child, Armin only had one other friend. So he was happy that Eren really seemed to want to be his friend. Armin showed Eren the way to the playroom while he kept talking. Levi took this as his opportunity to leave without causing Eren to become upset.

* * *

Eren was in awe when he and Armin walked into the playroom. He had never seen so many toys and other kids in the same place before. Eren was used to spending time with Erwin, Levi and their friends; and since none of daddy and papa's friends had kids he never really had an opportunity to play with other children before. Even when Levi and Erwin took Eren to the playground at the park, Eren always played with daddy and papa not the other kids. He was very excited to play with Armin and the other kids.

"Come on Armin, let's play with the blocks." Eren said dragging Armin towards where the blocks were.

"Eren wait." Armin said as he tried to get Eren to stop dragging him.

"You don't want to." Eren said looking confused. Armin shook his head. All of the other kids were playing with toys so Eren didn't understand why Armin didn't want to play too.

"What do you wanna play?" Eren asked.

"I like to read books." Armin said. The little blonde fully expected Eren to laugh at him then go off and play with the other children. Not many of the other children would want to spend time reading; but to Armin's surprise Eren didn't laugh. Instead he seemed to be excited.

"Ok!" Eren said loudly. "Let's read together." Armin smiled and lead Eren over to the bookshelf. Armin picked a book and the two boys sat down together. Eren was amazed by Armin's reading ability, the blonde read almost the entire story out loud by himself. He only had to ask one of the teachers for help on three or four words. Eren also read fairly well for his age. Since Levi did own a bookstore, the two of them spent quite a bit of time reading together. Although Eren was having fun reading he had a pretty short attention span and was starting to get restless.

"Let's play with blocks now." Eren said. He stood up and held his hand out to Armin. Armin seemed hesitant, he usually preferred to read and never really played with other toys. However there was just something about Eren that made Armin want to step out of his own little bubble. He reached out and grabbed Eren's hand and the two of them went over to where the blocks were and started building a tower. The two boys had actually made a pretty decent sized tower and had started building another one next to it when a little girl with long black hair walked up to them.

"I've never seen Armin play with blocks before." She said as she looked at both boys. Armin blushed a little and looked at the floor. Eren stared at her confused.

"Why?" Eren asked.

"He always reads." She said. It was obvious that this girl didn't talk much.

"I'm Eren, I'm four." Eren said as he held up four fingers, just like he always did when he introduced himself.

"Mikasa." She said. Eren smiled at her and asked if she wanted to play with them. Mikasa nodded her head yes and the three of them played with the blocks until they had a whole towns worth of block towers. This little group of three were certainly going to be life long friends, they just didn't know it yet.


	12. Cupcakes and Christmas Carols

**A/N: I know it's only August but I was really inspired to write a Christmas chapter...so Merry Early Christmas Readers! lol :) 3**

The hours passed by fairly quickly and it was already time for Levi to pick Eren up from daycare. When he walked into the playroom he saw Eren sitting at a table coloring with Armin and a little girl whose name Levi didn't know. Levi watched the three of them for a minute, noticing how happy Eren looked to be playing with these other children. It was nice seeing Eren enjoy himself, especially since Eren had never really had any interaction with other children before. Levi had been concerned that Eren would have problems adjusting to being away form him, but it looked like his little boy was doing just fine.

Isabel noticed Levi standing in the doorway of the playroom so she walked over towards Eren and told him that his daddy was here to pick him up. When Eren caught sight of Levi, he abandoned his friends as he ran across the room towards his daddy. When he reached Levi he wrapped his little arms tightly around Levi's legs and hugged them. Isabel giggled as she walked towards the two of them. She handed Eren the picture he had been coloring and reminded Levi that she would be coming over around 6:30 for dinner. Levi made another snide comment about how she shouldn't invite herself over, but he knew it didn't matter what he said because the spunky red head was going to do what she wanted anyway. After Levi helped Eren into his jacket them two of them left the daycare and headed home.

Later that night Levi was busy in the kitchen cooking dinner while Eren was sitting on the kitchen floor playing with his toy fire truck. At about 6:00 Levi heard the apartment door open signalling that Erwin was home from work.

"Papa!" Eren yelled as Erwin walked through the door. The four year old ran over to Erwin and stretched his arms out, so that Erwin would pick him up.

"Hello Eren." He said as he lifted the little boy up into his arms, picking up on Eren's not so subtle hint.

"Papa papa I went to daycare today." Eren said with a big smile on his face. Before Erwin could could say anything Eren continued to babble on an on about his day at daycare. "Papa, me and Armin readed books and played with blocks. And me and Mikasa raced on the playground and she beated me cause she is really really fast." Erwin smiled as he carried Eren, who was still talking about all of the thing he had done at daycare, towards the kitchen so he could say hello to Levi. The two men said their hellos and Levi told Erwin how Isabel invited herself over. Erwin chuckled because Levi was clearly annoyed by Isabel's classic behaviour of doing what she wanted when she wanted; her free spirited nature always did clash with Levi's rather serious and straight forward demeanour. Erwin was about to set Eren down but Eren suddenly got very excited and started pointing to the refrigerator.

"Papa look I coloured a picture at daycare and daddy put it on the fridgerator." Eren said pointing excitedly towards the picture that was held onto the refrigerator by a green magnet. "It's you and daddy! You are superheroes." The picture depicted a taller blonde man with the word papa written over his head; papa being spelled "Pappa". Next to him was a shorter dark haired man with the word daddy written over his head; daddy being spelled with a backwards "y". Both of the men were wearing green capes and were each holding two weapons that Erwin assumes were supposed to be swords of some kind. Although it was drawn by a four year old, it was pretty well drawn.

"That's a very nice drawing Eren." Erwin said as he ruffled the little boys hair.

"Daddy is the strongest cause he can beat up all the bad guys and Papa makes battle plans cause your really really smart." Eren explained as he pointed to his drawing. Erwin just chuckled as he set the little boy back down on the floor.

"Eren go put your toys away before Isabel gets here." Levi said as he continued to chop the vegetables for the stir fry he was cooking. He knew that Isabel loved stir fry so he could kill two birds with one stone because not only did Isabel like it, but it was also easy to prepare.

"Ok daddy." Eren said as he picked up his fire truck and carried it to his room.

"That boy has quite the imagination." Erwin chuckled as he ran his fingers over the drawing on the refrigerator.

"Childish nonsense at its finest." Levi said briefly glancing at the picture before pitting the chopped vegetables in the pan.

"I don't know if I'd call it nonsense. I can certainly picture you as humanity's strongest." Erwin teased as he leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"Tch. Why don't you make yourself useful and set the table, before humanity's strongest decides to kick your ass." Levi said while continuing to prepare dinner, which was just about ready.

Erwin had just finished placing the silver wear on the table when there was a knock at the door followed by Isabel loudly announcing that she was here. Since Erwin was the closest, he walked over and opened the door for the spunky red head. After they exchanged their hellos, both of them headed towards the kitchen where Levi had just finished putting dinner on the table and was helping Eren into his booster seat. Eren needed the booster seat because he was still too little to see over the the edge of the table without it. Levi was just starting to fix Eren's plate when Isabel came in and loudly said hey big bro. Levi looked at the clock and noticed it was almost quarter to seven.

"You're late." Levi said as he poured Eren some juice.

"I know. I know, I would have been on time but I was walking by this bakery and caught a whiff of something heavenly. So I had to stop in, and I brought something super yummy for dessert." Isabel said as she held up the box in her hand. She lifted the lid to reveal four freshly baked cupcakes; two vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and blue sprinkles and two chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and green sprinkles. Eren got a huge smile on his face when he saw the chocolate cupcakes because he loved chocolate.

"Cupcakes! Daddy daddy I want a cupcake!" Eren shouted.

"After dinner." Levi said as he took the box from Isabel and placed it on the counter next to the tea kettle.

The four of them had a nice dinner together, Isabel commented that Levi's cooking was just as good as she remembered it being. They spent most of dinner listening to Isabel tell them about all of her adventures from the last two years. She told them how she had done everything from horse back riding in the countryside to site seeing in the city, partying in nightclubs to bonfires on the beach. Of course every now and then they were interrupted by Eren asking questions or Levi scolding him for eating so sloppily. After they finished eating Levi and Erwin cleared the table and started on the dishes while Isabel kept Eren company. When the dishes were done Levi made tea for himself, Erwin and Isabel and poured a glass of milk for Eren, while Erwin brought the cupcakes over to the table.

"Papa, cupcake now please." Eren said as soon as the box was on the table. Erwin chuckled and put a chocolate cupcake on a plate for Eren. The little boys eyes lit up and he began devouring the sweet treat.

"Oi brat, where are your manners?" Levi said as he came back to the table with the tea and milk.

"Thank you papa and Isabel." Eren said with his mouth full.

"Disgusting. Don't talk with your mouth full." Levi scolded. Then he took his napkin and wiped the chocolate frosting off of Eren's cheek.

The adults continued to catch up while they ate their dessert. Since Levi wasn't a fan of sweets he didn't have one of the cupcakes and was content to drink his tea. Erwin didn't have much of a sweet tooth either unless it was ice cream, but every now and then he would partake in baked goods so he decided to have one of the vanilla cupcakes. Isabel also decided to have a vanilla cupcake. Normally she would have chosen chocolate but since Levi wasn't having one there would be one leftover; Isabel thought she would leave the chocolate one so that Eren could have it as a treat for another day since he seemed to be enjoying his current cupcake so much.

After dessert Isabel said her goodbyes and headed home for the evening. She was staying with Farlen until she saved up enough money to start traveling again, and didn't want to get back to late in fear of waking him up since he generally went to bed fairly early. Levi made a mental note to kick Farlen's ass for not telling him Isabel was back in town. Once she was gone Levi and Erwin got Eren ready for bed then cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for bed themselves.

As the days passed by, they were filled with daycare and play dates, busy work days and family trips to the park. The weather became brisk as Fall progressed and soon thanksgiving was upon them. Since Hange's house had the most room she invited everyone to spend the holiday with her. Of course she went way over board on the food like she always did but nobody complained because it was exceptionally good. Eren innocently said that they should always have thanksgiving at Hange's house, which of course caused Hange to explode with pure joy and proclaim that Eren was a genius and this was to be their new tradition.

Soon the seasons changed from Fall to Winter. It was now December and Christmas was only one week away. Eren was at daycare playing with Mikasa and Armin on the playground. The three of them were taking turns on the slide when it started to snow ever so softy, dusting the world with its white winter magic. As Eren was running back to the steps of the jungle-gym that lead to the slide, he saw Milkasa shiver while she was waiting for Armin to take his turn. Eren tapped Mikasa on the shoulder and when she turned to face him, he took off his red scarf and wrapped it around her neck; although not quite as neatly as Isabel had help him put it on before they had gone outside. Mikasa grabbed the end of the scarf with her fingers and looked at it, then she looked at Eren.

"Thanks." Mikasa said. Eren just smiled then slid down the slide even though it was Mikasa's turn. She didn't mind though.

It continued to snow lightly as Levi walked down the road to the daycare centre. The weather report had said that the snow would be light in the afternoon but as the evening progressed the snow fall would become heavier and could amount up to two or three feet. When Levi pulled the front door open and walked inside he was greeted by Isabel.

"Hey Levi. Eren's in the play room, I'll tell him you're here." Levi just nodded his head and grabbed Eren's coat off the coat hook, however he sighed when he couldn't find Eren's scarf.

"Daddy!" Eren said as he ran up an hugged Levi's legs.

"Hey brat." Levi greeted then asked. "Where's your scarf?"

"I gived it to Mikasa on the playground cause she was cold. She's still cold so she's still has it on." Eren explained as Levi helped him into his jacket. Levi didn't really mind that Eren had given the scarf away, after all he could always buy him a new one for Christmas. Levi was just glad the Eren hadn't lost it since the little boy had a habit of miss placing things. They were just about to leave when Isabel reminded Levi that the daycare centre would be closed all week next week for Christmas break. Levi was fine with that because Erwin was going to take next week off from work anyway so that the three of them would be able to spend a few extra days together as a family over the holiday season.

As the evening went on the snow began to come down harder. When Eren woke up the next morning and looked out his window he was overwhelmed with excitement when he saw the winter wonderland. He quickly scrambled out of bed and ran into Levi and Erwin's room. They were both sleeping peacefully when Eren jump up onto there bed, successfully jolting them both of them awake.

"Daddy, papa! Snow snow, look at the snow!" Eren said as he bounced up and done on the bed. Both men glanced out the window to see what had Eren so excited so early in the morning. Now that they were awake they got out of bed, Erwin picking up Eren, then headed to the kitchen to have breakfast.

"I wanna play in the snow." Eren said with his mouth full, which made Levi cringe.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full brat." Levi said as he playfully flicked Eren's forehead making the little giggle.

"Why don't we go to the park later this afternoon." Erwin said

"The park. Yay!" Eren squealed as he pounded his hands on the table.

Erwin and Levi sat on one of the park benches watching Eren run back and forth in front of them and making the occasional snow angel when, all of a sudden Eren jumped into Erwin's lap.

"Papa make a snowman with me please" Eren said as he hugged Erwin. The tall blonde stood up and he and carried Eren a few feet away from where the bench was, an the two of them proceeded to build their snowman.

Levi stayed where he was on the bench watching as Eren desperately tried to make a big enough snowball to be part of the snowman. Erwin squatted down and showed the four year old how do it, chuckling at the serious look on Eren's face. Once they had the body put together the two of them used some rocks for the eyes and mouth as well as two small sticks for its arms. Eren complained that it didn't had a carrot nose, but Erwin assured him that their snowman looked fine without it. When it began to lightly snow again Levi and Erwin decided it was time to go home and promised Eren that he could have hot chocolate and cookies for an afternoon snack

Eren was sitting on the couch with Levi and Erwin watching one of the many Christmas specials that were on television. He was busy shoving his third cookie into his mouth when all of a sudden Hange burst through their apartment door.

"Hello my favourite family of three." Hange said as she shut the door behind her.

"Hange!" Eren shouted as he jumped off the couch and ran towards her, hugging her legs as he reached her.

"Can't you knock and wait for us to answer the door like a normal person." Levi said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Hange was too busy ticketing Eren to reply.

"What brings you here Hange?" Erwin asked.

"Well I happened to be in the neighbourhood and while I was driving I heard on the radio that Santa is going to be at the mall tonight. So naturally I had to come here and get Eren so he can tell Santa what he wants for Christmas." Hange explained as if it was the only logical conclusion. "So what do you say Eren, do you want to go see Santa." She said as she held Eren in her arms.

"Yeah! Daddy, papa I wanna see Santa." Eren said excitedly. After quickly cleaning up Eren's cookie mess, the three of them piled I'm Hange's car and headed off the the mall.

When they got to the mall it was so crowded with last minute Christmas shoppers and families who were also there to see Santa, Levi and Erwin were concerned that Eren would get lost in the crowd. However before either of them could make a move to pick him up Hange scooped him up and placed him on her shoulders so that he could see over the crowd.

The line to see Santa moved fairly quickly and after about ten minutes it was Eren's turn to see Santa. Hange set the boy down, and Eren walked up towards Santa. One of the women dressed as Santa's helpers lifted Eren up and placed him on Santa's knee.

"Ho Ho Ho. Well hello there little boy. What's your name?" Santa said in a deep jolly voice.

"I'm Eren. I'm four." Eren said the same way he always did when introducing himself.

"And what would you like me to bring you for Christmas Eren?" Eren didn't answer right away, and instead looked at Hange, Levi and Erwin. The three adults encouraged Eren to answer the jolly bearded man.

"Um...I want a fish tank with fishies in it." Eren said as he looked up at Santa.

"I'm sure if you keep being a good little boy, that could be one of the presents I bring to you." Eren smiled and Santa's helper helped Eren off of Santa's lap and gave him a candy cane. Eren ran over to the others and Levi picked him up and carried him the rest of the time they were at the mall.

The week was just flying by and it was already Christmas Eve. Eren was bouncing off the walls with excitement about the fact that Santa was coming tonight. Levi and Erwin had to tell the boy several time to use his indoor voice because when Eren was excited about something he was loud.

Not only was he loudly singing the song 'Santa clause in coming to town' he was also running all around the apartment as well. This went on for most of the afternoon until Levi had finally had enough. The dark haired man picked Eren up and plopped him on the couch, Eren thought it was fun and was giggling until he saw the look on his daddy's face. Eren may have only been four but he could tell that that was daddy's annoyed face, so Eren stopped giggling and looked down at the floor pouting. Levi sighed and ruffled Eren's hair to let the little bout know that he wasn't angry with him. This made Eren happy and he lunged forward giving Levi a big hug.

"How about we watch a movie, then get you ready for bed Eren?" Erwin asked as he came into the room. He figured that the movie would keep Eren quiet for a while, as well as spare Levi from getting an even worse headache then he probably already had.

The three of them sat on the couch together and decided to watch Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, as per Eren's request. Eren stayed quiet for most of the movie, alternating between sitting in Levi and Erwin's laps. He sang along to the songs in the movie, although this time he sang much quieter than he had been earlier in the day.

When the movie finished Erwin gave Eren a bath and got him changed into his pajamas. Both of them went back out to the kitchen so Eren could help put out cookies and milk out for Santa. Levi took three of the Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies that the three of them had made and decorated earlier in the week, an put them on a plate. He handed the plate to Eren and told him to carefully take it into the living room and place it on the table by their Christmas tree. He then followed the little boy carrying a small glass of milk and set it next to the plate of cookies.

Erwin then picked Eren up and carried him to his and Levi's bedroom. The two of them decides since it was Christmas Eve they would let Eren sleep in their bed for tonight. Once he got the little boy tucked in he started to read Eren the story 'The Night Before Christmas'. Erwin was only about half way through the story when he noticed that Eren was already sleeping and probably even had visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. Erwin kissed the sleeping four year old on the head and whispered good night. He rejoined Levi in the living room and the two of them shared a glass of red wine as they watched the snow fall outside the window, before finally heading off to bed themselves.

At 5:30am on the dot Eren's eyes popped open and he sat straight up in bed between Erwin and Levi. It was Christmas morning and Eren was ready to see what presents Santa had left under the tree and in his stocking.

"Daddy daddy! Papa papa! Wake up its Christmas!" Eren squealed as he shook Levi and Erwin awake. Levi was the first to open his eyes and wasn't exactly thrilled that he had been woken up at this ungodly hour, but he also knew that there was no way in hell he would be able to convince the persistent four year old to go back to sleep for a bit longer so he caved and started to get out of bed.

Erwin on the other hand was most definitely not a happy camper. He was a bit of a bear in the morning if he was woken up before the alarm when off, and 5:30 was at least an hour too warily for him. The blonde probably was ready to convince Eren that now was not the time to be up until he saw the look of pure joy on Eren's face. In the end Erwin also caved and got out of bed. This of course caused Levi to smirk and make a snide comment about how Eren had Erwin wrapped around his little finger, which in turn made Erwin say 'maybe so, but your far more tightly wrapped around his finger than I am."

Their conversation was interrupted by Eren loudly shouting "Daddy, papa Santa came!" The two men followed the sound of Eren's voice to the living room where the little boy was jumping up and down in front of a big fish tank that was sitting on the self next to the television. It was rectangular and had colourful rocks at the bottom as well as a small castle and some colourful under water plants. However the things Eren was most excited about were the four fish that were inside the tank. There were two gold fish, a small blue and yellow fish and a bigger red and white fish all swimming around.

"Look look Santa got me a fish tank, like he said he was gonna!" Eren squealed as he clapped his hands and stared at the four swimming fish. Eren was so interested in the fish that he didn't even notice the pile of presents under the tree. Erwin and Levi had to actually make Eren walk away from the tank so he could open his presents.

After all of the presents were opened the three of them spent the rest of the day playing with Eren and spending Christmas together. Before they had adopted Eren, Levi and Erwin would usually spend Christmas together just the two of them or sometimes they would spend it with their friends. However now that they had Eren as their son, neither one of them could think of a better way to spend Christmas than spending it together as a family.

"Merry Christmas Eren."


	13. Tooth Fairy

As winter turned into spring, the little family of three continued to live happily together. It was now early April and Eren was watching cartoons in the living room while Levi was busy in the kitchen getting lunch ready. It was Friday so Eren wasn't in daycare today; normally the two of them would go over to Hange's and spend the day with her but she was out of town for the next few weeks visiting one of the best research labs in the country. Levi was just about finished making sandwiches for Eren and himself when all of a sudden he felt Eren wrap his arms around his leg and heard the little boy sniffle.

"Eren what's wrong?" Levi asked as he picked up the sniffling boy.

"My tooth hurts, it's all wiggly." Eren whined.

"Which tooth? Open your mouth and show me which one it is." Eren opened his mouth and put his fingers against the tooth showing Levi that it was loose.

"Why is it wiggly daddy?" Eren whined.

"It's loose Eren. In a few days it'll fall out." Levi said.

"I don't want it to come out!" Eren cried. The little four year old was now visibly more upset than before as he clung to Levi tighter and began to cry.

"No more tears Eren. It's not a bad thing, everyone loses their teeth it's part of growing up. After that one comes out a new one will grow back in." Levi explained

"Really." Eren said as he wiped his nose with his shirt sleeve.

"Yes, really." Levi said. He then took a cloth and dried Eren's tears. After calming the little boy down the two of them sat at the table and ate lunch, while every now and then Eren complained about his tooth hurting.

Later that evening Erwin came home from work and the three of them sat down to have dinner. After they had begun eating, Levi asked Eren if he was going to tell papa about his tooth.

"Papa, my tooth is wiggly. Daddy says its gonna fall out and a new one is gonna grow back." Eren said as he smiled widely.

"That's very exciting Eren. Do you know what else happens when your tooth falls out." Erwin said. Eren tilted his head to the side and looked at Erwin with a confused expression. "The tooth fairy will come and visit you."

"The tooth fairy?" Eren asked.

"When your tooth falls out, you put it under your pillow at bed time and after you fall asleep a tiny little fairy will come into your room. She'll take your tooth and leave you some money or a special treat." Erwin explained.

"Wow! I want the tooth fairy to come!" Eren yelled excitedly.

"You need to wait for your tooth to fall out brat." Levi said as he cleared the table.

* * *

Eren had become obsessed with the idea of the tooth fairy all weekend as he anxiously awaited the day his first loose tooth would fall out. There were several times over the weekend that Levi and Erwin caught Eren using his fingers to wiggle the tooth around trying to get it to fall out. Levi and Erwin scolded him, and told him he needed to be patient because the tooth would fall out on its own. Every time he was scolded, Eren would pout and whine

"But I want the tooth fairy to come soon." Eren whined. Levi picked Eren up and sat him down on his lap.

"She will brat. You just need a little longer." Levi said.

"Ok daddy." Eren said as he continued to pout. Levi set the little boy down in front of the coffee table where his crayons were so that Eren could continue colouring the pictures he had been working on. Meanwhile Erwin and Levi sat on the couch. Erwin was reading the newspaper and Levi was reading one of the novels he had read dozens of times but never got tired of. They decided that it would be nice to have a quiet Sunday afternoon at home before the start of another busy week.

"Papa, daddy look!" Eren said as he tapped on Erwin's and Levi's knees. Both men looked down at Eren and saw him waving around the picture he had drawn.

"It's the tooth fairy." Eren said as he handed the picture to Erwin. Both men looked at the drawing and saw a fairy that had short pearly white hair, a blue dress, blue shoes and sparkly silver wings. Their were also little teeth drawn all around the edge of the page. At the top of the page were the words tooth fairy; only tooth was spelled 'toth' and fairy was spelled with the 'r' and the 'y' written backwards. Neither of the men had the heart to tell Eren about his spelling mistakes. Mistakes aside it was a pretty adorable picture and Eren certainly had quite the imagination.

* * *

Monday came and after Levi dropped Eren off at daycare he wasted no time showing his friends his lose tooth. Armin was fascinated by the fact that baby teeth fall out and adult teeth grow back in their place. Mikasa on the other hand didn't seem particularly interested in Eren's tooth until he mentioned the tooth fairy. Both of his friends were mesmerized by the tale of a magical tooth collecting fairy, who leaves behind treats as a reward for the accomplishment of loosing your baby teeth. However Armin and Milkasa weren't the only ones interested in the tooth fairy, the other children were as well. After over hearing Eren's story the other children began to ask him about this little fairy who takes your teeth while you sleep. The tooth fairy became the talk of the daycare centre and by the end of the day almost every child had drawn a picture of the tooth fairy and asked the teachers at a least half a dozen questions about her.

The week progressed as usual, though as the days went on Eren was getting more and more impatient waiting for his tooth to fall out. Not just because he was excited for the tooth fairy to come but also because his tooth was starting to hurt more and more than it had since it had become loose. There were several foods Eren didn't want to eat because they made his tooth hurt. He also hadn't been sleeping very well, being woken up by the uncomfortable pain his loose tooth was causing.

By Thursday Eren was pretty cranky and just wanted more than anything for his tooth to come out. While the little boy was sitting with Milkasa and Armin helping them build a block tower he was wiggling his tooth with his tongue. After a few minutes of pushing his tooth back and forth with his tongue it finally came free from his gums. Eren was confused when he suddenly felt something in his mouth that wasn't there before. He dropped the block that he was holding and held his hand in front of his mouth, spitting the foreign object into his open hand. Eren got a huge smile on his face when he realized what was in his hand.

"Armin! Mikasa! Look." Eren almost yelled as he held his open hand out towards his friends. Though before either of them could get a good look at what Eren had in his hand, Isabel came over to where they were.

"Eren, how many times do I have to remind you to use your indoor voice?" She said as she playfully patted the boy on the head.

"Isabel look! My tooth came out!" Eren said as he showed her the small tooth.

"Wow kiddo that's great. How about you come with me and we'll put your tooth in a plastic bag and I'll hold into it for you until your daddy comes to pick you up." Isabel said. Eren held his tooth tightly, it was obvious that he wanted to hold onto it. Isabel understood Eren's apprehension to give her his tooth, especially after it being all he talked about for the last several days.

"Eren I promise you'll get it back when daddy comes to pick you up. I just want to hold onto it for you so that you don't lose it; because if you lose it the tooth fairy won't come." At the mention of the tooth fairy Eren immediately went with Isabel to put his tooth away until it was time to go home.

Later that afternoon when Levi arrived at the daycare centre to pick up Eren, he was greeted by the excited little for year old who was holding a plastic bag in his right hand.

"Daddy my tooth fell out!" Eren shouted as he stopped in front of Levi holding the up the bag his tooth was in and smiling widely to show off the now empty space where his tooth had once been.

"About time huh brat." Levi said as he picked up the little boy. Then the two of the headed home.

* * *

That night after Eren had his bath and changed into his jammies, Erwin carried him to his room. Levi was already waiting there with the plastic bag that Eren's tooth had been put into earlier that day and as Erwin and Eren came into the room, Levi handed the baggie to the little boy. The four year old opened the bag and took the tooth out of it and carefully placed it underneath his pillow. Eren also placed the picture he'd had drawn of the tooth fairy next to his tooth. When Erwin asked Eren why he was putting his picture under the pillow, the little boy said that it was a present for the tooth fairy to thank her for the treat she was going to leave for him.

"That's very sweet of you." Erwin said as he tucked Eren into bed. Shortly after the four year old was sound asleep.

When Eren woke up the next morning at 5:30am and he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. All of a sudden Eren gasped when he remembered that his tooth fell out yesterday and that meant the tooth fairy had to have come. Eren turned around and through his pillow off the bed. When the pillow hit the floor Eren saw that his tooth and picture had been replaced by a one dollar bill and a cherry lollipop. Eren grabbed both of his treats and ran towards Levi and Erwin's room.

"Daddy! Papa! The tooth fairy came." Eren yelled as he opened the door and jumped on their bed.

"Eren it's too early to be so loud." Levi scolded as he and Erwin sat up to see why Eren was so excited so early in the morning.

"Daddy, papa, the tooth fairy bringed me money and a lollipop. See?" Eren said as he held up the dollar in his right hand and the lollipop in his left. Then the little boy crawled in between Erwin and Levi and the three of them went back to sleep for awhile longer.


	14. Chicken Pox!

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE! :( But on the plus side I have the next chapter already planned out so you guys shouldn't have to wait to long for the next update :) especially since I'm going to have a little bit more time to write in the next couple of weeks. Anyway I hope you guys like this chapter. Don't forget to comment :) 3 I always love reading your comments, it lets me know you guys care about this story :**

 **So without further ado My Little Brat Chapter 14 Chicken Pox!**

It was a typical Saturday evening for the little family of three. Levi and Erwin were sitting on the couch together watching the evening news, while their four year old was sitting on the floor playing with his building blocks. Eren was having a grand old time stacking the multicolored blocks on top of each other forming clearly unsteady towers, that somehow managed to stay standing upright as if they were taunting gravity. Eren was particularly happy to be playing today due to the fact that the previous two day he had been in bed with a slight fever. Now that his fever was gone Levi and Erwin allowed the four year old the freedom to play again. Every now and then Levi would turn his attention from the television to watch Eren as he played with his blocks. Levi noticed that every so often Eren would stop playing and start scratching his arms and occasionally his neck and face. The behaviour wasn't necessarily unusual, however the frequency of the scratching struck Levi as odd. As far as he and Erwin knew, Eren wasn't allergic to anything so he doubted it was an allergic reaction. Levi just assumed it probably just dry skin and made a mental note to put some lotion on Eren after his bath.

About ten minutes later the news ended and Levi made his way towards the kitchen to start dinner. Erwin was going to help prepare dinner but ended up being roped into playing with Eren after hearing the adorable boy ask "Papa will you play with me please?" The muscular blonde was putty in the four year olds hands, and sat down on the floor next to him so they could play together. As they played together Erwin noticed the same thing Levi had, Eren would stop playing and start to scratch. The third time Eren stopped playing so that he could scratch his itchy arms he made a pouty frustrated face.

"Eren are you alright?" Erwin asked

"I'm itchy papa." Eren said as he continued to scratch his arm. Before Erwin could say anything else, Levi came into the room to tell the two of them that dinner was ready. The mention of food seemed to momentarily distract Eren from his itchy skin as he ran toward the kitchen table. All throughout dinner Eren had to set his fork down so that he could scratch. The itchiness was starting to upset Eren and he started making whiney noises.

"Daddy I'm Itchy." Eren whined.

"Come on." Levi said as he picked Eren up out of his chair and walked down the hallway towards the bathroom."I'll give you a bath and then I'll put some lotion on your arms. That should stop the itching." Levi set Eren down on the floor and started to fill the tub up with water. Once the tub was full Levi turned towards Eren to help him take off his cloths.

"No. I can do it." Eren said as he pushed Levi's hands away. Eren was going through that independent stage where he wanted to do everything all by him self. Levi sighed and waited until the little boy had fully undressed. Then he lifted Eren up and put him in the tub. As he bathed Eren, Levi tried to get a look at Eren's arms and neck to see if he could find the source of his incessant itching. However Eren had continued to scratch while Levi bathed him.

"Eren, stop scratching for a minute." Levi said as he gently took hold of one of Eren's arms. After taking a closer look at the boys skin, Levi noticed Eren had several red spots on his arms, neck, and chest. It was still early spring so it was far to early for them to be bug bites. Then Levi realized what they probably were. "Shit." he muttered under his breath. He quickly got Eren out of the tub and wrapped a towel around him. Then he scooped Eren up in his arms and walked out of the bathroom and brought Eren into the kitchen where Erwin had started cleaning up the dinner mess.

"You need to get Eren dressed and take him to the doctor." Levi said as he handed Eren to him.

"Why what's wrong?" Erwin asked, confused by Levi's sudden urgency.

"I think Eren has the chicken pox." Levi said as he moved Eren's towel so Erwin could look at the spots in question.

"Alright. Come on Eren, lets get you dressed. We're going to go see the doctor." Erwin said as he carried the little boy to his bedroom.

"But I'm not sick. I'm itchy." Eren said. The four year old was too young to understand why he needed to go to the doctor.

"The doctor is going help make the itch go away." Erwin explained so that Eren could understand. Once he was dressed Erwin carried Eren out of his room. As the headed for the front door they saw Levi in the kitchen getting out his cleaning supplies.

"Alright, I'm going to take Eren to the doctor now. We should be back in a few hours." Erwin said as he put his jacket on and waited for Eren to put his on as well.

"Ok. I'm going to disinfect everything in the apartment. Eren be a good boy for papa and the doctor." Levi said as he pulled out his Costco sized bottle of disinfectant.

"Bye daddy." Eren said as he waved goodbye while Erwin carried him out he front door.

* * *

Levi had cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom twice, not letting a single nook or cranny escape his scrutinise disinfectant abilities. Just as he was putting away his cleaning supplies, Levi heard the front door open and watched as Erwin carried Eren, who was sleeping soundly, towards the four years olds bedroom to put the four year old to bed; stopping only for a minute to place a bag from the drugstore on the kitchen table. After getting Eren all tucked in for the night, Erwin headed back out to the living room to tell Levi what the doctor had said about Eren's condition.

"What did the doctor have to say?" Levi asked as he watched Erwin walk towards him and sit down on the opposite side of the couch.

"Eren does have the chicken pox. Apparently the fever he had the last two days was because of them. She also said that he was at his most contagious during those few days. So anyone who came in contact with Eren, that hasn't already had the chicken pox, will most likely catch them." Erwin explained. Then he noticed Levi's eyes widen and heard him mutter 'shit' under his breath. "Levi...?"

"I've never had the chicken pox." Levi said as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"You haven't?"

"No. Shit I knew they were contagious but...Damn." Levi sighed."So what do we do about them now that Eren and I are both going to have them?"

"Well Dr. Lens said that there isn't a cure so you'll just have to let them run their course. They should only last about 10 to 14 days. Eren isn't aloud to attend daycare until they are cleared up. The same goes for you about work. Basically the two of you will have to be quarantined in the apartment until they are gone." Erwin explained. Then he went into the kitchen and grabbed the plastic bag off the table and brought it over to the couch.

"She recommended a few different creams that should help reduce the itching." Erwin said as he pulled the tubes of anti-itch cream out of the bag and showed them to Levi. "She also said taking an oatmeal or baking soda bath a few times a day will also reduce the itching. The most important thing we need to do is make sure Eren doesn't scratch, because if he does it could lead to infection."

"Fantastic." Levi said with a heavy amount of sarcasm. For the next two week he and Eren were going to be in chicken pox hell, and to add to Levi's frustration he could already feel himself getting feverish. After putting the anti-itch cream in the bathroom Levi and Erwin headed off to bed. they were only asleep for about two hours before they were awoken by the sound of Eren crying.

"Daddy. Papa" Eren cried. Levi started to get out of bed but Erwin told him to stay put, especially because his fever had risen. Levi sighed but got back into bed and watched as Erwin left the room to attend to their crying child.

"What wrong little man?" Erwin asked as he walked over to Eren's bed.

"Papa. I'm itchy." Eren whined as he continued to scratch again.

"I know you are but you can't scratch Eren, it will only make it worse." Erwin said as he picked Eren up and carried him to the bathroom. He then set Eren on the bathroom counter and picked up on of the tubes of anti-itch cream. After applying it to all of the areas Eren complained were itchy, Erwin carried the little boy back to his room and tucked him back into bed.

* * *

 _Time skip 6 days later_

It was pretty safe to say that these last six days had been the longest six days of Levi's life. Taking care of a four year old with the chicken pox is hard enough; but taking care of a four year old with the chicken pox while you have them as well is a nightmare. Neither Levi nor Eren had been getting much sleep due to their itchy skin so Eren was cranky and a little on the whiny side, while Levi was just a bit more irritable than usual.

After having breakfast together as a family, Erwin headed off to work leaving his chicken pox covered boys alone for another long day at home. When Levi had finished doing the breakfast dishes he scooped Eren up in his arms and carried him to the bathroom so they could have their morning baking soda bath.

The routine that had been established since Eren and Levi came down with the chicken pox was that they would wake up and apply a bit of the anti-itch cream. Then after breakfast Levi and Eren would take a baking soda bath to help reduce the itching, once they finished their bath Levi would spend the rest of the morning and afternoon keeping Eren occupied and making sure Eren didn't scratch. After lunch they would take another bath and Levi would either try to get Eren down for a nap since he had been having trouble sleeping, or if Eren refused to nap Levi would keep Eren occupied until Erwin came home from work. When Erwin came home form work he would take over keeping Eren occupied so Levi could have at least an hour or two of peace and quiet. Then after the three of them ate dinner Levi and Eren would take a third bath and then either Levi or Erwin would attempt to get the poor itchy four year old off to bed for the night. While in theory this was a good plan, nothing could prepare Levi for how difficult it actually was to care for a cranky four year old who was itchy all over because of his chicken pox. Even when Eren was a baby it was never this much of a hassle to take care of him.

As Levi absentmindedly watched the water drain from the tub, he felt a small hand tug on his shirt. When he turned his head to look down at the pouty faced four year old he saw Eren pointing at the tube of anti-itch cream on the bathroom counter. After applying some of the cream to both of their arms, legs, chests and backs, Levi helped Eren get dressed; dispute the fact that Eren desperately wanted to do it by himself. Once they were both completely dressed Levi carried Eren out to the living room and flipped on the television, hoping that the cartoons would grab Eren's attention and shift it away from his chicken pox. This worked for about an hour and a half before Levi had to scold Eren about scratching.

"Eren stop scratching." Levi said a little more forcefully than he usually did when scolding Eren. The little boy stopped scratching and pouted as he went back to watching his cartoons. Once Eren thought that Levi wasn't watching him he began to scratch again. Unfortunately for Eren, not to much went unnoticed by Levi and the four year old found himself being scolded again. "Eren! How many time do I have to tell you to stop scratching. You're only going to make them worse if you scratch. Do I have to put mittens on your hands again?"

"No! I don't want mittens!" Eren cried. For the first few days of Eren's chicken pox. Erwin and Levi had to put mittens on Eren's hands to keep him from scratching. After promising to be a good boy and not scratch, Levi and Erwin decided that Eren didn't have to wear them unless his scratching became a problem again.

"Then you need to stop scratching." Levi said. Eren continued to cry softly, wiping his runny nose on his shirt sleeve. Levi leaned forward and grabbed a few Kleenex out of the box on the coffee table and wiped away Eren's tears and his runny nose.

"How come daddy's chicken spots aren't all itchy?" Eren asked still sniffling a little. Eren couldn't seem to grasp that they were called pox instead of spots. Ever since he and Levi got them Eren had referred to them as spots.

"They're chicken _pox_ not spots, and trust me brat, mine are just as itchy as yours are. I just have the self control to not scratch them." Levi said. Eren tilted his head to the side, not quite understanding the last part of what Levi had just said. Clueing into his son's confusion Levi explained what he meant. "It means even though I want to scratch I'm not going to." He said as he scooped Eren up and hugged him. Then he repositioned them so that he was laying down on the couch with Eren laying on his chest. As the laid there Levi started running his fingers through Eren's hair, the same way he did when he tucked Eren into bed, in the hopes that it would help Eren drift off to sleep and nap for a while.

"I'm sorry daddy." Eren said in a very quiet, sleepy voice.

"What are you sorry for?" Levi asked. He as a bit taken aback by the four year olds sudden apology.

"I'm sorry I gived daddy my chicken spots." Eren said as he nuzzled his face against Levi's chest.

"You don't have to be sorry Eren." Levi said as he continued to run his fingers through Eren's hair. "It's not your fault you got sick and it's not your fault that I got sick too. So you don't have to be sorry." When he didn't receive a response, Levi realized that Eren had fallen asleep and was now contently napping on Levi's chest. After a few minutes Levi realized just how tired he was himself and he slowly began to drift off to sleep as well.

* * *

A few hours later Levi awoke to the sound of what he assumed was someone taking pictures of him and Eren. Levi had always been a very _very_ light sleeper so it wasn't uncommon for Levi to be awoken by even the most subtle of sounds. When he opened his eyes he saw Erwin standing at the end of the couch with his phone in his hands.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll delete those pictures." Levi said in a hushed tone do that he wouldn't disturb Eren who was still sleeping soundly on his chest.

"That would be a lot more intimidating if you weren't covered on chicken pox." Erwin said in an equally quiet tone, and just to annoy Levi more Erwin had a cocky smirk on his face and even winked just to emphasize that he wasn't scared of Levi attempted threat. Levi just rolled his eyes then glanced up at the clock on the book shelf and noticed that it was only 1:30 in the afternoon.

"What are you doing home so early?" Levi asked still in a quiet tone.

"My meetings for this afternoon were cancelled so I thought I'd come home early and take care of my boys."

"Well in that case can you go grab the tube of anti-itch cream off the bathroom counter and bring it here? My legs are driving me insane because of how itchy they are." Levi said. Erwin chuckled a bit as he walked towards the bathroom. When he came back out to the living room he squatted down and started to roll up the pant legs of Levi's sweatpants and rub the cream all over the areas that were causing Levi the most discomfort. Once he was done Levi thanked him and then Erwin went to put the cream away. When he came back they agreed that Erwin should start making lunch because Eren would most likely be hungry when he woke up from his nap. Levi was actually quite impressed, this was the longest that Eren ad managed to stay asleep before his itchy chicken pox eventually woke him up. No sooner than Levi had finished that thought, he felt Eren start to stir and begin to wake up.

"Daddy." Eren yawned. "Daddy I'm itchy and hungry."

"Lets go put on some more of the anti-itch cream. Papa is making lunch so you can have something to eat after we take care of itchy skin." Levi said as he started to carry Eren towards the bathroom.

"Papa." Eren said when he caught sight of Erwin making sandwiches at the kitchen counter. The blonde turned around and ruffled Eren's already messy brown hair.

"Hello Eren. Were you a good boy for daddy today?" Eren pouted slightly, he wasn't sure if his behaviour today could be classified as 'good'. The four year old looked up at Levi as if he was asking whether he had in fact been a good boy today or not. Levi had a pretty good idea of what Eren was thinking so he answered on Eren's behalf.

"He was a little cranky today, but overall he was pretty good." Levi said as he sat Eren down on the kitchen counter next to Erwin. Levi then proceeded to the bathroom to retrieve the anti-itch cream. While Levi was doing that, Eren became very interested in what Erwin was doing.

"Papa, I wanna help." Eren said as he pointed to where Erwin had the sandwich stuff on the counter. Erwin brought a chair from the kitchen table into the kitchen for Eren to sit on, so that he could help make lunch. Luckily the counter top in their kitchen was low enough that if Eren sat in his booster seat he was at the perfect level to help Levi and Erwin in the kitchen if he wanted to. Once Eren was in his booster seat, Erwin placed two slices of white bread in front of the four year old and then handed him a plastic knife. Eren's favorite sandwich was peanut butter and jelly, which was simple enough for a four year old to help make. After opening the jars of peanut butter and strawberry jelly Erwin let Eren proceed to make his own sandwich. When Eren decided that there was enough PB&J on the bread he picked up the piece with peanut butter and put it on top of the piece with jelly.

"All done." Eren said proudly as he tugged on Erwin shirt sleeve, effectively getting peanut butter finger prints on Erwin nice clean dress shirt. When Erwin looked down at Eren he couldn't help but laugh. In the few short minutes it took for Eren to make his PB&J sandwich, the four year old had managed to get both of his hands as well as the counter top full of both sticky sandwich ingredients. Levi, however, was not as amused when he returned to find his kitchen looking as if a PB&J tornado had gone through it. Levi sighed as he picked up the dish cloth and began cleaning up the mess, starting with Eren's sticky fingers and then focusing his attention towards the counter.

After the three of them finished lunch, Levi and Eren took their afternoon bath. Then the Levi and Erwin continued to keep Eren occupied for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The day ended peacefully with Eren falling asleep on Levi's lap as Levi read him a story.

* * *

Seven _long_ days later, both Levi and Eren were both officially chicken pox free and able to return to work and daycare. Levi was especially glad to be able to return to work after being cooped up at home for a total of 14 day. The doctor had said that the chicken pox could last anywhere for 10 to 14 days, and boy oh boy did Eren and Levi's take their sweet old time, lasting all 14.

A few weeks later Eren celebrated his 5th birthday. They had a big old party and invited Eren's friends Mikasa and Armin, as well as all of Levi and Erwin's friends. Eren was, of course, extremely spoiled just like he was every birthday. It was a fun day full of party game, presents, chocolate cake and even a magician who preformed many astounding magic tricks that had Eren, Armin and Mikasa in awe.

The days were just flying by and before they knew it, it was summer time. The daycare that Eren went to had changed their hours to summer hours, which meant that they were only open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until lunch time. After picking Eren up, Levi brought him back to the bookstore where Eren would spend the rest of the day, unless he had a playdate at Armin of Mikasa's house.

The bookstore was usually pretty slow during the summer, so Levi and Farlen wold take turns keeping Eren occupied by either reading to him or playing with him. One particularly slow day, Eren was sitting on Farlen's lap while Farlen read him a story about different kinds of animals. Eren was amazed by all the different types of wild animals in the story book, he was especially amazed by the tigers.

"I like the big kitty with stripes." Eren sad as he pointed to the picture of the tiger.

"There called tigers, Eren." Farlen explained.

"I wish I could see a real one." Eren said.

"Well, if you go to the zoo I'm sure you could see one." Farlen said as he patted the boy on the head.

"Really!" Eren shouted. "Daddy!" Levi had been dusting and restocking the shelves in the back of the store, so when he heard Eren call for him he set down his feather duster and walked towards the front of the store.

"What do you want brat?" Levi asked.

"Daddy, Farlen says if we go to the zoo I can see a tiger. Can we go? Can we?" Eren begged.

"Maybe if you're good we can go to the zoo this weekend."

"Yay!" Eren shouted. "We're going to the zoo!"


	15. Day at the Zoo

"Yay we're going to the zoo!"

* * *

The nearest zoo was two hours away. So needless to say, Levi and Erwin had to make sure they packed enough toys and snacks to keep their little five year old entertained. These days Eren had a pretty short attention span so it was difficult to keep him occupied for any length of time.

After getting Eren's stuff together Levi put it in Eren's travel toy box; which was just an ordinary plastic tub with the words 'Eren's car trip toys' painted on the side, in which they always put his toys when they were going on a longer car trip. Once it was packed, Levi then handed the box to Erwin who took it along with the backpack of snacks down to the car. Levi stayed behind as waiting for Eren to finish tying his shoes; which was a rather slow process since the five year old had only just recently learned how to tie them by himself. Eren sat on the floor intensely focused on what he was doing until he had managed to tie his laces into sloppy looking bows. When he was done Levi scooped the little boy up and carried him down the stairs to the car, where he then got Eren situated in his car seat. After climbing into the passenger side of the car, the three of them headed off to the zoo.

"I wanna listen to my car songs." Eren said after about ten minutes into their two hour drive.

"Eren remember your manners. What's the magic word you're supposed to say when you ask for something." Erwin said. He and Levi wanted Eren to learn how to be polite so both of them made sure to remind Eren to say please and thank you if he forgot.

"I wanna listen to my car songs please." Eren said again, emphasizing the word please. Levi lease forward and grabbed the CD out of the glove compartment and placed it into the CD slot. Shortly after, the car was filled with the sounds of Eren's children's songs and the five year olds voice as he sang along to the ABC's, do you know the muffin man, twinkle twinkle little star, and old McDonald had a farm; while he played with several different toys that he pulled out of his toy box.

The first hour of their two hour car ride went pretty smoothly. There wasn't much traffic since it was a Sunday so they were making pretty good time. Eren was being very well behaved and had managed to stay fairly entertained between his car songs, toys and snacks. Although after about another 5 minutes Eren started squirming around in his car seat. In fact he was squirming so much that it caught Erwin's attention as he glanced in the rear view mirror. The blonde just assumed that the five year old was starting to get antsy and ready to get out of the car.

"Daddy."

"What?" Levi asked shifting his attention away from the book he was reading as a way to pass the time.

"I hafta go potty." Eren whined as he continued to squirm. Levi sighed. They were on the high way so there wasn't anywhere relatively convenient for them to pull over. Since Levi had been reading he hadn't been paying attention to the road, so he glanced at Erwin hoping that the blonde would have a solution to Eren's problem.

"There's a exit coming up soon. Eren can you wait about ten minutes?" Erwin asked as he changed lanes preparing to take the exit. The five year old nodded his head but continued to squirm around in his car seat.

Shortly after getting off the highway, Erwin pulled into the parking lot of the closest gas station and parked the car. Since Levi was a bit of a clean freak he almost never set foot in a public bathroom, especially not a gas station bathroom. For this reason Erwin was the one to get out of the car and take poor little Eren inside so that he could finally go potty. After accomplishing this task the two of them got back in the car and the three of them continued their journey to the zoo.

* * *

45 minutes later they finally arrived. Once the car was parked the three of them headed towards the entrance. After paying the admission price, the girl behind the counter handed Erwin a map of the zoo. The three of them proceeded to walk through the gate and step of to the side so they were out of the way; this way Erwin and Levi could take a look at the map and figure out which direction they should go and what animals to see first.

"Daddy. Daddy I wanna see the tigers!" Eren said as he tugged on Levi's pant leg."Please daddy, I wanna see the tigers."

"Yes Eren I know you do. Be patient for a few minutes." Levi said as he patted Eren's head while still looking at the not hugely helpful zoo map. Eren pouted slightly as he waited for his daddy and papa to finish talking. Just then something blue and green caught Eren's eye. It was one of the peacocks that were aloud to roam around the zoo as they pleased. The five year old was completely captivated by the sheer beauty of the birds vibrantly coloured feathers. It had to be one the prettiest things Eren had ever seen.

"Daddy look at the pretty bird. Daddy look! Look!" Eren said as he tugged harder on Levi's pant leg.

"In a minute Eren." Levi said as he gently stopped Eren's hands from persistently yanking on his pants. The five year old pouted again, then turned his head back towards the peacock. However at this point the peacock was starting to walk further into the zoo. Without even thinking Eren let go of Levi's pant leg and began to follow after the brightly coloured bird.

"Alright Eren, lets go." Levi said as he reached out to take the little boys hand, however all he felt was air slip through his fingers as he reached out for a hand that wasn't there. "Eren." Levi said as he and Erwin looked down at where their son had been standing only to find that he was no longer by their side.

"Shit. Eren, Eren!" Levi called out, drawing the attention of the other zoo visitors.

"He couldn't have gotten to far. Lets split up and look for him." Erwin said. "If one of us finds him we'll call the other on their cell phone. If we haven't found him after ten minutes we'll ask the employees to help us find him." The two of them then split up and began looking for Eren.

* * *

Meanwhile Eren continued to follow the peacock further and further into the zoo. Unfortunately for Eren the bird decided to jump up and over a small fence, thus stopping the five year old from chasing it any longer. Eren pouted as he watched the bird disappear from his sight. Then the little boy turned around and went to reach out for his daddy or papa's hand only to discover that neither one of them were anywhere to be found.

"Daddy? Papa?" Eren said as he looked around at the many different people who were enjoying their zoo visit. Eren's eyes began to well up with tears and he started crying when he realized that he was all alone. The five year old continued to cry harder until he fell back against the fence and ended up sitting on the ground.

"You know it's a shame to see such a happy little boy cry such sad tears." Said a familiar sounding voice. Eren then felt a hand pat the top of his head. When he opened his eyes and looked up he saw Hange squatting in front of him.

"Auntie Hange!" Eren cried as he lunged forward into her arms. No one is quite sure why, but lately Eren had begun referring to Levi and Erwin's friend as 'Auntie' and 'Uncle'.

"Now why is my little munchkin crying?" She asked as she stood up with Eren in her arms.

"I can't find daddy and papa!" Eren said as he started to cry some more.

"I see. Well why don't I give that silly daddy of yours a call and let him know where he can find you." Hange said as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. It only rang once before she was greeted by the irritated tone of Levi's voice.

"Hange I don't have time to talk to you about whatever nonsense your calling about. Eren's missing and I need to find him." He was just about to hang up on her when she managed to stop him.

"Wait! Eren is fine, he's with me."

"What do you mean he's with you? Why are you at the zoo?"

"A colleague of mine works here and I was giving him a hand with a few things. I was actually just about to head home when I spotted Eren by himself crying."

"Where are the two of you?" Levi asked. It was obvious that he was a little relived to know that Eren was alright.

"We're over by the elephant exhibit." Hange said. Levi told her that he would be right there after he called Erwin to let him know that Eren was alright. At this point Eren had stopped crying and was now pretty content to look at the elephants.

* * *

"Eren!" Levi shouted as he and Erwin spotted Hange and Eren. The five year old was sitting on Hange's shoulders and looking at the pachyderms until he heard his daddy's voice.

"Daddy! Papa!" Eren yelled as he began squirming around on Hange's shoulder. Once Levi was close enough Hange reached up and carefully removed Eren from her shoulders and put him in Levi's arms.

"Eren, do you remember the rule for when we go somewhere?" Erwin asked.

"Always s-stay with daddy and p-papa." Eren sniffled a little as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Did you do that?" Erwin asked.

"N-no." Eren sniffled. "I'm s-sorry."

"You had us worried sick about you. Don't ever wander off by yourself again, understand?" Levi scolded. Eren nodded his head as he snuggled closer to Levi's chest. Levi took his handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to dry Eren's tears. Once he was done crying he hugged Levi again then reached out so he could hug Erwin as well.

"Can we go see the tigers now?" Eren asked.

"Yes we can go see the tigers now." Erwin chuckled. He then lifted Eren up onto his shoulders just as Hange had done a few minutes prior. "Hange would you like to join us?" Erwin asked.

"Does she have to?" Levi snidely commented, which prompted Hange to stick her tongue out at him.

"Sadly I won't be able to, I have research that needs to be done." The little family of three said goodbye and thank you to Hange for all her help.

The three of them spent the rest of the day wandering around the zoo. Eren finally got to see the tigers, and was so fascinated by them that he refused to leave the tiger exhibit. They ended up having lunch at a picnic table neat the tiger exhibit so that Eren could watch them for a little longer. Once they managed to convince Eren to see some of the other animals, they three of them resumed their tour of the zoo.

It had been a long day and eventually Eren started to get sleepy. the three of them made their way back to the car, but not before stopping at the gift shop where Levi and Erwin bought Eren a stuffer tiger wearing a zoo logo t-shirt. By the time they reached the car Eren was fast asleep while tightly hugging his new toy. Levi carefully put Eren in his car seat without waking him up, and after getting into the car himself the three of them headed back home.


	16. Birthday Cake

**A/N: This chapter is a combination request from Motonura from wattpad and Nyxxairuss from Archive of our own (AO3).**

 **Nyxxairuss - I was thinking maybe we could see Levi and Erwin have a 'date night' or something , it would be fun to see the dads be kiewt together.**

 **Motonura - Eren helps make a surprise birthday cake.**

* * *

Summer slowly came to an end and as the leaves changed from their earthy green to an assortment of bright yellows, vibrant oranges and deep reds; everyone became aware that fall was in the air. Not only did fall mean cooler weather and pumpkin flavored treats, but it also meant a new school year was starting.

The stores became crowded with parents and children who needed to buy brand new school supplies, and among these shoppers was our little family of three. Eren was starting school this year; kindergarten to be precise. Eren was more than a little excited about the idea of starting school. He had always been a curious child, constantly asking questions. So the idea of being able to go to school and learn new things everyday thrilled the boy.

Although when Levi and Erwin were dropping Eren off on the first day Eren suddenly became apprehensive to walk through the front door. It was similar to how he had reacted the first time Levi had taken him to daycare. After reassuring the boy that he would be fine and have a wonderful day, Eren bravely walked through the doors and into his classroom. The day turned out much better than anticipated when Eren discovered that not only was he in the same class as Armin and Mikasa, but his teacher turned out to be his 'Auntie' Petra. The combination of these three things made the transition much easier for Eren.

The day continued to pass by smoothly, so smoothly that it had become routine. Levi and Erwin did pretty much the same thing everyday. During the week Erwin would leave early for work while Levi would drop Eren off at school then head back to the shop. Once the day was over and the three of them were home, they would help Eren with any homework he had, then they would make dinner, play with Eren, give him a bath and then put him to bed. The weekends weren't much different, the three of them would spend time together as a family or Eren would have a play date arranged. This routine left almost no time for Levi and Erwin to do anything together or for themselves, which was something their friends had noticed, particularly Hange. And she intended to do something about it. Knowing that Erwin's birthday was coming up she put her plan into action.

Hange opened the door to the bookstore and went inside. Farlan was at the front desk reading, yet again. He often did when the shop was slow. Most people were surprised that Farlan was such an avid reader because he didn't seem like the type who would spend his day reading. Hange greeted Farlan before making her way towards the back of the store where Levi was restocking the shelves with the new books that had arrived.

"Hello Levi!" Hange said rather loudly as she patted him on the back causing him to drop one of the books that he had in his hand. Luckily Levi's reflexes were excellent and he managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Do you even understand the concept of using your indoor voice?" Levi asked as he continued his work.

"Oh lighten up Levi, you own a bookstore not a library. Anyway Erwin's birthday is today. Do you two have anything special planned?"

"Same thing we do every year." Levi said. "I'll cook dinner, we'll have cake, play with Eren than go to bed." Hange let out a big exasperated sigh.

"You realize that if you take away the cake eating part, then that is the same thing you guys do every night. Seriously when is the last time you two even went out on a date?" Levi stopped what he was doing and thought for a moment. When was the last time they had a date? Or done anything together for that matter.

"A few weeks ago. While Eren was at a play date the two of us went to an afternoon movie." Levi said as he started to take some of the books up towards the front of the store.

"Levi, a matinee movie hardly counts as a date unless one of you got down on your knees and gave the other a blow job right there in the movie theater." Hange said with a smirk as she crossed her arms. By this point they were close enough to the front desk that Farlan was in earshot of their conversation and Hange's comment had made him chuckle.

"Tch. Can you go be unnecessarily vulgar somewhere else?" Levi said as he set down the stack of books he had in his hands. "Besides why do you care what I do for my partner for his birthday?"

"Because your plans are boring." Hange said. "Which is why I took the liberty of getting you two a reservation at Sapphire Sky, the place you two had your first date, at 6:30 tonight."

"What?" Levi almost yelled. "That restaurant isn't even in town it's half an hour away. Did you forget that we have a five year old. Whose going to babysit Eren on such short notice?"

"I can watch him." Farlan said.

"There see! It's perfect. Now you don't have any excuses to not go." Hange said as she clapped her hands together. "So you two better go out and have a good time. And by good time I mean that the birthday boy better get laid."

"Tch. Our sex life is none of your business." Levi said. "I have to go pick up Eren from school I'll be back in a bit."

* * *

Erwin arrived home shortly after 5:30 that evening. After hanging up his jacket he noticed Levi coming out of their bedroom. The shorter man was wearing a black button down shirt and dress pants. Levi adjusted the buttons on his shirt ensuring that he looked presentable; which wasn't difficult because Levi always looked attractive in anything he wore.

"Welcome home." Levi greeted when he noticed Erwin standing in the kitchen "How was your day?"

"Hectic as usual. I'm certainly glad to be home." Erwin replied as he closed the gap between the two of them. "You look nice."

"Do I?" Levi asked in a subtle but still flirtatious tone.

"Mmm, this is one birthday present I can't wait to open later." Erwin said as he fiddled with the top button on Levi's shirt. Then the tall blonde leaned down and gave Levi a soft kiss, that was loving but certainly could have turned sexual if they hadn't been interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Ah hem." Farlan said as he stood their with a slight smile on his face while he had his hands over Eren's eyes.

"I didn't realize we had company." Erwin said before exchanging polite greetings with Farlan. It was at this time that Eren realized that Erwin was home, which caused the five year old to squirm out of Farlan's hold.

"Papa." Eren yelled as he pushed Farlan's hands off his face and ran towards the blonde. Erwin bent down and picked up the five year old. "Happy birthday papa."

"Thank you Eren." Erwin said as he ruffled Eren's hair. Levi then reached out and took Eren from the blonde.

"Alright, go change your cloths we have to leave in the next 10 minutes." Levi said.

"Leave? Where are we going?" Erwin asked. He was a bit confused due to the fact that he thought that they were going to have quiet birthday at home.

"It's a surprise birthday boy. Now hurry up and change cloths." Levi said as he shooed Erwin off to the bedroom.

"Do I hafta change cloths to daddy?" Eren asked

"No brat, we talked about this remember. You're going to stay here with Farlan."

"But I wanna go with you and papa." Eren said in a tone that was borderline whiny as he clung to Levi's shirt causing it to wrinkle slightly. Noticing the creases forming in his shirt, Levi set Eren down on the floor.

"No. You're going to stay and play with Farlan." Levi repeated. Eren's lip began to quiver and Levi could tell he was getting ready to cry. Levi sighed. "We'll be back in time to tuck you into bed alright. Does that sound good to you brat?"

"Ok daddy." Eren said still pouting slightly as he stuck his thumb in his mouth. Whenever the five year old was feeling fussy, sucking or biting his thumb seemed to be his go to method of comforting himself. A few seconds later Erwin emerged from the bedroom dressed in cloths that were similar to the ones he had worn to work but were subtly dressier.

"Are you ready to go?" Levi asked. To which Erwin replied that he was. Levi turned his attention to Farlan and let him know when they would be home and to not make a mess in the apartment. The two of them said goodbye to Eren and then headed out the door.

The five year old ran over and stood in front of the closed apartment door for a minute before bursting into tears. Farlan quickly rushed over and picked up the sobbing child. He patted Eren's back in an attempt to calm him down but it seemed to have little success.

"What's the matter little guy?" Farlan asked.

"I...I w-want daddy and...p-papa." Eren cried. "Why did t-they...g-go away?"

"Shh it's alright. Daddy and papa just went out to have a date since it's papa's birthday." Farlan explained. "They'll be home soon."

"What's a date?" Eren asked. His tears started to stop now that his curiosity of a new word had caught his attention.

"Hmm...Well a date is when two people who really like each other, like your daddy and papa do, go out together to do something with just each other."

"Why?" Eren asked.

"Because they like each other and they want to spend time with each other." Farlan replied.

Eren seemed satisfied with Farlan's explanation of a what a date was. He then started to squirm in Farlan's arms, which was a clear sign that the five year old didn't want to be held anymore. The two of them went back to the living room where Eren decided that he wanted to color a picture. After getting Eren his crayons and a coloring book, Farlan sat down on the couch and picked up the novel he had been reading earlier. However he didn't read more than three pages before he heard Eren shout his name.

"Uncle Farlan!"

"What's wrong Eren?" Farlan asked as he set his book down.

"Papa doesn't have a birthday cake." Eren said. "We have to make him one."

"Eren I'm sure your daddy will get him a cake. There is no need for us to make one." Farlan said hoping to talk Eren out of baking a cake. Baking with a five year old can lead to only one thing and that's a mess. Farlan knew that Levi would kill him if he came home to a messy kitchen.

"No! We have to make one." Eren said as he stomped his foot. "I wanna make papa a cake."

"Eren..."

"Cake, cake, cake CAKE!"

"Alright, let me see if I can find a simple recipe." Farlan said even though he knew he would live to regret this decision.

"Yay." Eren cheered as he ran to the kitchen. Farlan followed and one he got to the kitchen he went to the shelf where he knew Levi kept the cookbooks. After picking out the easiest cake recipe he could find Farlan got all of the ingredients out of the cupboards and placed them on the counter.

"I wanna do it. I wanna do it." Eren whined as he banged on the lower cabinets. The five year old was banging on them with such force that it caused the bag of flour to fall forward before Farlan could catch it, and spill at least half the bag right over Eren's head. The little boy was covered head to toe in flour which caused him to giggle.

"Levi's going to kill me." Farlan said.

* * *

Meanwhile at the incredibly romantic restaurant, Sapphire Sky, Levi and Erwin had just taken their seats at their table. It was a smaller restaurant that wasn't as well known as some of the other restaurants in the area but that's what Levi and Erwin liked about it. This restaurant was the place where they had their first date. Levi and Erwin had known each other since high school but it wasn't until college that they started dating. Erwin was the one to ask Levi out and after a lot of stubbornness Levi finally said yes. Erwin had chosen the restaurant because he knew Levi preferred quite places and also because of its location.

It was located at the top of a hill that overlooked the whole town below. The table they were siting at was by the window which allowed them to see the breathtaking view below. It felt as though they were on top of the world as they gazed out at the vast horizon ahead of them. Levi had a habit of staring at the sky with a longing expression; almost as if he wished he could take flight and soar through the air. Erwin had felt that with the restaurant being located in a higher place it might appeal to Levi.

Oddly enough this was the first time they had been back to this restaurant since their first date. As much as he hated to admit it, Hange had actually made a good decision. Levi might actually have to thank her.

Levi and Erwin both ordered a glass of red wine and after looking over the menu Erwin ordered steak and Levi ordered fish. After the waitress took their order and brought them their wine she excused herself and the two men sat in comfortable silence as they each took a sip of their wine.

"This is quite a nice change of pace." Erwin said as he set his glass of wine back on the table. "I don't even remember the last time you and I had some time to our selves like this."

"Eren certainly takes up the majority of our time."

"He is a handful. Although in all honesty I'm very glad we were able to adopt him. He's a wonderful boy and I've never seen you as happy as you've been since he came into our lives." Erwin said. "It's nice to see you happy."

"Yeah I'm a real ball of sunshine." Levi said sarcastically which caused Erwin to chuckle.

"This restaurant is nice. It's been years since we were last here." Erwin said changing the subject.

"Not since our first date. We even ordered the same wine and same food as we did that night." Levi said. Erwin's eyebrows raised in surprise. He loved Levi, he really did but he never imagined that Levi would care to remember such minor details of their relationship.

"You remember that. My my Levi, I never would have pegged you as the sentimental type." Erwin teased which only succeeded it earning a scowl from the raven haired man.

"Tch. Bite me."

"Maybe later." Erwin teased again.

"Moron." Levi muttered under his breath.

A short time later their meals arrived and the two of them began eating. They continued to chat throughout dinner; taking about work, and of course about Eren. The two of them joked that other then Eren they really didn't have much else to talk about these days. Which in turn stirred up a conversation of what they used to talk about. After finishing their meals the waitress cleared their plates and instead of returning with the check she had a plate of dessert in her hand.

"The woman who set up your reservation mentioned that it was your birthday so we'd like to give you our signature dessert on the house." The waitress said as she put the plate down on the table. "It's our caramel bourbon soufflé. Can I get either of you some tea or coffee?"

Levi asked for tea and Erwin asked for coffee. After she returned with their drinks Erwin started eating his dessert while Levi drank his tea. Once they were finished they payed the check and headed back to their car. As they drove down the path back to town Levi made a detour into a more secluded area. Erwin was confused by Levi's actions and asked the raven haired man what he was doing. After putting the car in park Levi said that he thought of something else they hadn't done in years. What he was referring to was sex in their car, The blonde quickly caught on to Levi's meaning and the two of them started kissing, Erwin easily gaining dominance.

"Happy birthday, birthday boy." Levi whispered.

* * *

Unfortunately, back at the apartment things weren't going as well. Farlan was on the verge of a nervous breakdown now that he realized what a horrible decision letting Eren help bake a cake turned out to be. The kitchen looked like a war zone; only instead of blood, carnage and casualties there was flour, frosting and egg shells. Eren was covered in pretty much every ingredient that had gone into making the cake and Farlan knew that their was no possible way to get Eren and the kitchen cleaned up before Levi and Erwin got home. Farlan was screwed. There was no way he would ever be aloud to babysit Eren again and he would probably never be aloud in Levi and Erwin's apartment anymore. Farlan just sat in silence contemplating his eventual demise as he watched Eren spread globs of frosting over the cake as well as add any unhealthy amount of sprinkles. The five year old then used his frosting and sprinkle covered hand to push his bangs away from his eyes; which only managed to succeed in getting both ingredients in his hair.

"Done!" Eren yelled.

"Oh thank god." Farlan whispered to himself. "Looks great Eren." The five year old smiled brightly and then started to get off the stool he had been standing on. It was then that they both heard the front door open, signaling that Levi and Erwin were home.

"Daddy. Papa" Eren said as he started to run out of the kitchen.

"No know you don't" Farlan said as he scooped Eren up before he could set one messy foot in any other room the apartment.

"What the hell did you do to my kitchen?" Levi growled and believe me if looks could kill Farlan would have dropped dead right then and there.

"I made papa a birthday cake." Eren said proudly.

"Looks more like you blew up a birthday cake." Levi said clearly still unamused. All Erwin could do was laugh which didn't help.

"Thank you Eren. It's a very interesting looking cake." Erwin said as he looked at the slightly misshapen cake covered in sprinkles and runny frosting that had obviously been put on while the cake was still warm.

"Farlan go give Eren a bath and if you get even a speck of whatever Eren is covered in on anything between hear and the bathroom I will make you scrub the entire book store floor with a toothbrush." Levi ordered. "I'm going to clean the kitchen."

"Can we eat the cake daddy?" Eren asked.

"You aren't doing anything until you've had a bath brat."

"Aww." Eren pouted.

A short time later Eren was squeaky clean and dressed in his pajamas and Levi had about half of the mess they had make cleaned up. Levi took a break long enough put candles on the birthday cake and the three of the sang happy birthday to Erwin. After blowing out the candles Erwin, Eren and Farlan each had a small slice of cake while Levi continued to clean the kitchen. When they finished eating Farlan said his goodbyes and Levi picked Eren up and started to take him to his room to tuck him into bed.

"Happy birthday papa." Eren said sleepily as Levi walked passed the blonde.

"Thank you Eren." Erwin said. "This has been the best birthday I've had in a long time.


	17. The Truth

This chapter is a request from Chris_Ackerman and omanomanoman17 from Wattpad. "Someone pushes Eren off the swings and makes fun of him for having two daddies."

Chapter 17 The Truth

"Daddy, papa guess what." Eren said excitedly. It was dinner time and the little family of three had just say sat down to eat when Eren suddenly demanded attention with his statement.

"What brat?" Levi said as he fixed Eren his plate of food.

"Tomorrow is show and tell day at school."

"That sounds like fun. Do you know what you are going to take to show the class?" Erwin asked.

"Yup." Eren said. "I wanna bring the picture in my room." Both Erwin and Levi paused for a moment. Neither one was quite sure which picture Eren was referring too.

"What picture?" Levi asked.

"The one of me and papa and you. The one when I was still a baby." Both men knew the picture well. It was the first and only picture of the three of them together when Eren was a baby. The same picture Levi smashed against the wall when Eren had been taken by child services. It had since been reframed and now sat proudly on in a shelf in Eren's bedroom. There had been discussion of moving the picture out into the main living space but Eren wouldn't allow it and through a temper tantrum until he got his way. It was unclear at the time why the little boy was so adamant about keeping the picture in his room but since it seemed to make him happy Levi and Erwin didn't question it.

"Are you sure that's what you want to take?" Levi asked. In all honesty Levi didn't like the idea and was hoping for a way to talk the little boy out of it.

"Yes!" Eren said confidentially.

"There are a lot of other things you could take." Levi said. "How about one of your toys or that story book you have us read to you every night before bed."

"No! I wanna take the picture!" Eren yelled.

"Indoor voice Eren." Erwin scolded. "Now, why does it have to be that picture?"

"Because auntie Petra said that the thing we bring should be special to us." Eren said. Auntie Petra was also miss Ral, Eren's kindergarten teacher. At the beginning of the school year Eren had quite a bit of trouble remembering to call her miss Ral while they were at school. Petra often had to remind him what he was supposed to call her. "That picture is my favorite. I wanna show and tell it."

"Alright." Levi said with a sigh. "But you need to be very careful with it. That's the only one we have."

"I promise. I'll take extra super good care of it." Eren said as he place his right fist over his heart.

"Good. Now finish your dinner so you can get ready for bed." Levi said.

Once Eren was bathed and in his pajamas Erwin read him his nightly bed time story and tucked him in. When Erwin rentered the kitchen he found Levi whipping down all of the counters with Lysol wipes, even though Erwin saw him do it once already before he gave Eren a bath. Now it wasn't unusual for Levi to clean things multiple times in a day, however, you could always tell something was on Levi's mind when he cleaned the same thing twice in a 20 minute time span.

"You really don't want Eren to take that picture to school do you?" Erwin asked. It was the only thing Erwin could think of that could possibly be causing Levi so much tension. Levi didn't respond to the blonde' s question which confirmed Eriwns suspicion. The blonde walked over and placed his hand on Levi's, stopping him from further disinfecting the counter. "Levi." Erwin said.

"Tch, I just have a bad feeling about." Levi said as he yanked his home out of Erwin's and continued to wipe down the counter.

"Are your overprotective daddy senses tingling?" Erwin asked with a smirk.

"Drop dead." Levi said as he through the Lysol wipe into the trash can.

The next morning Levi got Eren ready for school and made sure that their family picture was safely packed in Eren's backpack. As Levi dropped him off at school they said their goodbyes and Levi made sure to remind the little boy to be careful with the picture. Eren promised and then headed into the school.

Once Petra had taken attendance all of the children got their show and tell items and formed a circle.

"So who would like to go first?" Petra asked. Most of the children put their hands up and shouted me. After reminding them about their indoor voices Petra chose someone.

Eren of course was disappointed that he couldn't go first, but the five year old did his best to wait patiently. Meny of his classmates went before him including Armin who shared his favorite book. The kindergarten class was impressed because it was a book at a second grade reading level. Mikasa shared her red scarf and told them how Eren gave it to her the year before. It wants a surprise that she chose to share it because she wore it everyday even in hot weather. Sasha shared her lunchbox what was inside since it was her favourite lunch; meat and potatoes. Marco shared a small pin in the shape of an Angel. The wing on the right side was missing but Marco still insisted that it was special. After all you don't need all there to be remembered as an amazing person.

Then finally it was Eren's turn. Eren carefully removed the picture from the protective box Levi had placed it in and showed it to his class.

"This is my favorite picture ever!" Eren said excitedly. "

"This is my daddy and this is my papa and that's me when I was still a baby. Daddy says it's my only baby picture with all three of us."

"What about your mommy? Why isn't she in it?" Sasha asked innocently.

"Cuz I have daddy and papa. I don't have a mommy." Eren said.

"You're dumb. Everyone has a mommy." Jean said. "Your family is weird."

"Is not!" Eren shouted.

"Eren, inside voice." Petra said. "Jean, name calling isn't nice; please say your sorry to Eren."

"Sorry."Jean mumbled.

"Now children everyone's family is different. Some people have a mommy and daddy. Some have just one parent, some have two of the same parent and some don't have parents at all and are raised by other family members/guardians. There is nothing wrong with anyone's family. How about we take a break and have reases." Once the class lined up Petra took them all outside to play on the playground.

Eren ran straight for the swings because they were his favorite thing on the playground; Armin and Mikasa following close behind. The three of them each swung for a bit before Eren suddenly stuck his feet in the dirt and stopped his swing. His two friends were surprised to see Eren stop suddenly. Usually it was nearly impossible to get Eren off the swings one he was on them. Now out of the blue he stopped on his own.

"Eren..." Mikasa said.

"Is it really weird that I don't have a mommy?" Erwin asked.

"No." Mikasa said.

"I don't think so." Armin said. "And Miss Ral said it wasn't either." Eren didn't seem to convinced though. Mikasa had a mommy and so did Armin, even if he spent most of his time with his grandfather. If both of his best friends had mommies, why didn't he? Before today Eren had never even thought about the fact that he didn't have a mother. Now the five year old couldn't stop thinking about it. Where was she? Why wasn't she here? How come daddy and papa never talked about her?

Eren continued to just sit on the swings, when all of a sudden he felt two hands on his back. Before Eren knew it he had been pushed off the swings and fell face first into the dirt.

"If you aren't gonna swing get off." Jean said as he grabbed the chains in his hands and put one of his feet on the seat. Eren scouled at Jean as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Stupid Jean." Eren mumbled. The three friends were about to walk away from the swings when something Jean said caused Eren to stop.

"I know why you don't have a mommy."

"Yeah right. How would you know?" Eren said.

"Because my mommy said that if a kid has two mommies or two daddies, it means their real mommy and daddy didn't want them anymore." Jean said.

"You're lying!" Eren yelled.

"Your mommy didn't like you so she gave you to those men. They aren't even your real daddies."

"Shut up!" Eren yelled as he pushed Jean to the ground. That was all it took to escalate things because as soon as Jean stood up he and Eren started hitting each other.

It was a pretty uneventful day for Levi and Farlen at the bookstore; that is until the phone rang.

"Underground books. How can I help...oh hey Petra." Farlen said. Hearing Petra's name caused Levi to stop what he was doing and silently pray that this call wasn't about Eren. "... Um sure, let me hand him the phone." Farlen said before passing the phone to Levi.

"What happened?" Levi asked without even saying hello.

"Levi, I need you to come pick up Eren. He and one of his classmates got into a physical fight and the school has a zero tolerance policy. However since they're only in kindergarten they just need to leave the school for the rest of the day." Petra explained.

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

When Levi got to the school he saw the other child's mother and Petra already talking while Eren and the other boy sat in chairs against the wall. From what he could tell the other boy had a cut in his lip. He couldn't see Eren's face however because it was tilted toward the floor and his hair was covering his eyes.

After a breif discussion with Petra and the other boys mother, Levi understood that the boys had had a fight but neither of the boys would say why they were fighting. Probably due to the unwritten rule of childhood that nobody wants to be a snich. In any case Levi was determined to find out why. After gathering Eren's things the two of them headed to the car. Eren still kept his head down on the short walk to the car, however when Levi lifted him up to put him in his booster seat he noticed a bruise forming on Eren's cheek just under his eyes. Levi tried to take a closer look but Eren put up a fuss and pushed Levi away. Needless to say the raven haired man a stunned. Normally when Eren was sick or hurt he clung to Levi like his life depended on it. The ride back home was quiet.

As soon as Levi parked the car and got Eren out of his car seat the little bit ran into the bookstore and up the stairs to the apartment, Levi quickly following him. He had had enough of Eren's behavior.

"Go sit on the sofa." Levi said. Once Eren was sitting Levi sat down in front of him setting Eren's backpack and their family picture next to the little boy.

"Why did you and that boy get into a fight?" Levi asked, but the little boy remained quite. "According to Petra you pushed him to the ground. I don't know what he said to you Eren but it is never ok to get physically violent. Do you understand?" Again Eren said nothing causing Levi to lose his patients further.

"Eren I'm only going to ask you one more time and you had better answer. Wh-"

"Why don't I have a mommy?" Eren said interrupting Levi.

"What?" Levi asked.

"Jean said my mommy didn't like me so she gave me to you and papa and you and papa aren't really my daddies, you're strangers." Eren said as his eyes welled up with tears."He was lying right?"

Levi was too stunned to say anything. He knew the day would come when they would have to tell Eren he was adopted but he never planned on it being this soon.

Not only that but because of what that boy had said, Eren had the wrong idea about why he had been given up. It was an all around bad situation and Levi didn't know what to say first. Did he address the topic of Eren being adopted first or the reassure him his real mother loved him first? Unfortunately while Levi struggled with what to say next it caused Eren to believe that Jean had been right about everything. Now in addition to being sad Eren was now angry. The little boy glanced at the picture of the three of them and picked it up.

"Eren, I..." Levi started to say, but it was to late; Eren was to angry to listen to anything Levi was going to say.

"You and him are liars. I hate you!" Eren screamed as he through their picture against the closest wall, causing the glass to shatter. Then he ran to his room and slammed the door.

Levi was in shock. He couldn't move from where he was sitting. All he could do was stare at the broken picture frame as the word 'I hate you' replayed over and over in his mind. He couldn't believe it, the little boy he loved so much, the one he fought for, hated him. Levi knew Eren bringing that picture to school was going to be a mistake. He just didn't realise it was going to be this devastateing.

A few hours later Erwin came home to find Levi in the living room still looking at the broken picture frame; the faint sound of Eren crying in the background. After filling him in on what had happened the two sat in silence for a moment. Then as Erwin bent down to clean up the broken glass he chuckled to himself.

"What the hell could possibly be funny?" Levi snapped.

"I was just thinking that Eren really is your son." Erwin said.

"We're you not paying attention to what happened. We aren't related remember."

"True we might not be a blood related family, but we still are a family. The reason I say Eren really is your son is because I seem to remember you being angry and throwing this very same picture against the wall. I also seem to remember you getting into quite a few fights when we were in school as well." Erwin explained. The sound of Eren crying could still be heard from the living room. "He needs you Levi, go comfort him."

"I can't...he thinks the two of us are strangers now and he hates us. He hates me."

"Levi, he didn't mean that. Right now he is just a very sad and very confused little boy who needs his daddy to hold him and tell him the truth." Erwin said. Levi took a deep breath and got of the couch. He quickly went to the kitchen to get ice for Eren' s cheek then went down the hall to the little boys room. When he opened the door he saw Eren curled up on his bed still crying. It broke Levi's heart to see him like that. As if by instinct Levi quickly closed the distance between himself and Eren. The raven haired man sat down on the end of Erens bed and scooped the crying five year old up into his arms. This time Eren didn't push him away, in fact he clung to Levi so tightly it was as if he was afraid Levi would disappear. Levi gently rocked Eren in his arms while he ran his fingers through the boys hair.

"I'm s-s-sorry daddy." Eren cried.

"Shh. You have no reason to be sorry Eren."

"But I broke t-the picture."

"It's ok. We can fix it."

"I-I don't h-hate you and p-papa."

"I know." Levi said as he continued to comfort Eren. For awhile they stayed like that until Eren's crys became sniffles.

"Did my mommy really not like me?" Eren asked.

"Eren she loved you very much."

"Then why did she not want me?" Eren asked.

"I'm going to tell you the story about the night you came to live with us." Levi said. Before he started he went to Eren's closet and grabbed the basket he found Eren in as well as the note his mother had written.

"It was very cold that night. I was on my way home from Hange's house when your papa called and asked me to get him some ice cream. After getting it I passed by an alley and heard crying. When I went to see who it was I found you in this basket. You were a tiny little thing but your lungs were strong. I'm surprised I was the only one who heard all of the noise you were making. when you saw me and looked up at me with those big blue/green eyes, I immediately bent down to your level to check on you. I found this note in the basket with you. It was written by your mother. It says _I don't know who will find this note, but I can only hope that you have a kind and compassionate soul. Even though I do not know who you are I am about to ask a favor of you. This is Eren (8months old) my beautiful baby boy. The favor I ask of you is to please care for him, give Eren the loving home and wonderful life he deserves. Please give him all of the things I am unable to. I want my Eren to know that this world is full of beauty and kindness, that despite my irresponsible and unfortunate decisions, there is hope. Please become Eren's hope, become Eren's strength, become Eren's family. Please don't let my selfishness rob this child of a happy life._ Do you know what all of that means?" Levi asked. Eren shook his head no, after all the note was a bit hard for a five year old to comprehend. "It means that even though she wanted to take care of you she couldn't but she wanted you to have a family who could. She loved you so much that she wanted you to have a family who would give you everything you need and love you more than anything."

"Mommy got her wish then." Eren said. Levi actually smiled when Eren said those words.

"I love you brat." Levi said.

"I love you too daddy."

After a long cuddle session and some time with papa as well the three of them found a new picture frame for their family picture as well as a frame for the note Eren' s mother had written. Both of which were now placed on the shelf in Eren' s room along with the baby basket. The family of three will always have their ups and downs but what's important is the love they share.


End file.
